I am amazed at how much regulation people seem willing to accept and even demand.
Our governments keep getting bigger and we keep getting smaller.
(For inquiring minds, I’m from the only slightly less regulated United States. Regulation has gotten pretty bad here, too.)
I think that most regulation is pretty ham-fisted, and ignores that a rather large portion of the stuff happening is likely already illegal under existing laws.
This is made worse by the fact that it takes a ton of time to file a complaint with the government, they typically ask for information that you just don’t have, and thus nothing gets done as they don’t know who called you or have any data other than a likely-spoofed phone number.
That said, I remember having a cell phone provider ask me to “mark” calls when I was having an issue with one of their towers. Basically they gave me something to dial if the previous call had had the issue, and that provided a flag for the previous call so I could follow up with them in their system.
I wonder if something like that could potentially be useful in a situation like this? Basically a way, directly from your phone, that you could dial up a number and report that the previous call was a scam, illegal telemarketer, etc.
I realize it would require some sort of a standard for reporting, and there would obviously be errors. But if they got clusters around particular phone numbers, or it was obvious that calls originating from some general area were being flagged at a super-high rate, that would let them target some sort of investigation.
And yes, I realize that would probably require some sort of further regulation - but coming up with a way for people to actually reliably and usefully report issues would seem to be the main prerequisite to being able to deal with the problem.
That, and NOT exempting every political organization from all the regulations. But that’s a whole different issue, and will almost certainly never happen. 
Telcos took some half-hearted steps in this direction, but this simplistic approach was doomed to failure. In recent history, many or most of the nefarious calls presented spoofed numbers. How does the telco or regulator identify the caller? Especially overseas callers? Again, the whole system needs a redesign to enable accurate identification of the caller. Not a trivial task and not without negative consequences. See the Stir-Shaken example above.
Absolutely! And it gets worse - as mentioned above, politicians are now starting to move from telephone calls to text messages for this loathsome activity. Simply disgusting.
Is it currently completely impossible for, say, my wireless company to know where a given call is originating from? I mean, I get that the Caller ID number can be spoofed - but don’t they have other information that can help them run it down?
A bit like the fox guarding the hen house.
…except I think the fox might do a better job. A fox can only eat so much, whereas the politicians seem to have a never-ending appetite. 
That gave me a good laugh this afternoon! How true indeed! 
That was good! Got a good laugh out of that one and made me think of a timeline of funding.
…it’s the “abusive fundraising” equivalent of the liturgical calendar.
Short answer: Yes … at least before implementation of STIR-SHAKEN. This is my understanding as a total amateur with no formal telecommunications training or experience. See this short explanation of STIR-SHAKEN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l6mbG7V88w
Remember that your wireless company is usually only the terminating provider, NOT the originating provider. Under the old rules (or lack of rules), no one could really determine the validity of the caller ID number or the identity of the caller. Under the new STIR-SHAKEN rules, the originating provider is responsible for determining the authenticity of the caller and the caller’s number, and responsible for certifying the call when passing the call on to the terminating provider (your wireless company or landline telephone company).
I have no idea how the STIR-SHAKEN rules apply to other countries or to international calls.
If anyone else can explain further I would be interested in learning some more.