I guess if you’ve still got a landline, you’re a primary target for fraudsters. After all, it’s the year 2008 and you have a landline. Fortunately, something that sounds like it’s out of a 2004 SkyMall catalog is coming to the rescue. The TrueCall device answers every call with an unknown number instantly and asks who it is. The person identifies themselves, then the system rings you and tells you. You then have the choice to talk to the person, have them leave a message, or ban them forever. If you ban them, their calls never get through again and are instantly answered with a “go away” message. Approved calls will always come through.
Apparently in an age where I have access to practically all human knowledge in the palm of my hand, an age where robots roll around on Mars, we still need someone to protect us from a boogeyman using a glorified tin can on a string.