>Our Australian Communications and Media Authority body (ACMA) recently reported 336M blocked scam SMSs

Australia has mandatory identity verification for getting a SIM card.

The FCC is now proposing [1] to add a rule to require government ID, physical address, and alternative phone number for every phone line in the US.

KYC for phone lines would cause more IDs to be leaked, and more American dollars lost to scammers and fraudsters.

[1] https://www.404media.co/fcc-wants-to-kill-burner-phones-by-f...

Discussion:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48462308

The phishing in Australia came from uncontrolled SMS gateways which allowed for sender impersonation, not physical phones with SIM cards. They've recently partly closed the loophole by requiring providers to register sender names.

Alternative Phone Line? You want the bootstrapping problem?