LI developer wins $25G for technology to combat robocalls

A Port Jefferson-based developer is one of two winners of a Federal Trade Commission-sponsored contest to develop technology to combat the often annoying robocall.

Aaron Foss will receive $25,000 for his idea, which he has dubbed Nomorobo.  He is sharing the total prize money of $50,000 -- as well as first place -- with another developer Serdar Danis, whose idea was also praised.

Nomorobo uses the simultaneous ringing function available to every phone line, which allows incoming calls to be routed to two different lines. Nomorobo's technology would pick up on a robocall and hang up before it rings through.

"Think of it as spam filtering for email, but this is robocalls," Foss said.

Foss said he plans to use the competition money as seed funding to build Nomorobo into a business. Although the FTC competition recognizes the winners for their ideas, the agency will not be implementing the technologies.