It appears on various sites—without my name but alongside hundreds of other phone numbers from the same area code. ENLARGE From left, Hiya, Nomorobo, Truecaller all promise to alert you when a robocaller is calling. Instead of wiping us out with liquid metal lasers guns, they’re crushing us with robocalls, those unwanted, pre-recorded intrusions into our private lives. It is illegal to make nonemergency robocalls, both telemarketing and informational, to any cellphone without the permission of the consumer. Over 600,000 consumers have also signed the Consumers Union’s petition to phone company CEOs to offer tools to block robocalls before they hit their phone.

Source: Wall Street Journal June 28, 2016 18:33 UTC