http://www.fiadservices.com/ftc-offers-50k-to-anyone-who-can-stop-annoying-robotic-calls/ Can you make the robocalls stop? I t might be worth $50,000.The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) yesterday kicked off its FTC Robocall Challenge, which will offer $50,000 to the individual or team who can come up with a way to stop annoying, robotic calls.The effort is part of the first c ontest hosted on Challenge.gov, an online platform that invites people to submit ideas for how best to solve pressing governme nt challenges."The FTC is attacking illegal robocalls on all fronts, and one of the things that we can do as a government agen cy is to tap into the genius and technical expertise among the public," David Vladeck, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consume r Protection, said in a statement. "We think this will be an effective approach in the case of robocalls because the winner of our challenge will become a national hero."The FTC will start accepting challenges on Oct. 25 at 5 p.m. Eastern and the submi ssion period will run until Jan. 17 at 5 p.m. Winners will be announced in April.Judges for the challenge are Steve Bellovin, FTC Chief Technologist, Henning Schulzrinne, Federal Communications Commission Chief Technologist, and Kara Swisher of All Thi ngs D. They will give a Best Overall Solution prize to an individual or team of fewer than 10 people based on the following cr iteria: does it work? (50 percent); can it be rolled out? (25 percent); and is it easy to use? (25 percent).Teams of mor e than 10 people can apply for the FTC's Technology Achievement Award, which does not include a cash prize.Commercial robocall s deliver recorded sales messages, many of which are deceptive, according to the FTC. In some cases they are illegal under the FTC's 2009 Telemarketing Sales Rule, unless the call recipient has given permission for that business to contact them.Earlier this week, meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission adopted rules that ban robocalling equipment from contacting Publ ic Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) - or 911 call centers that receive emergency calls."By some estimates, hundreds or even tho usands of unwanted robocalls are made to PSAPs each day, tying up public safety phone lines and diverting critical first respo nder resources away from the provision of emergency services," the FCC said.