Commsrisk has added a new SMS-blocking map to the Global Fraud Dashboard. The map collates public information about the extent to which fraudulent, spam and other potentially harmful SMS messages are being blocked before they reach consumers.

The map uses data published by national authorities where available. Where no national total has been found, figures published by major telcos are used instead. These figures are converted into a common score: the number of SMS messages blocked per day per million inhabitants. Deeper shades of green indicate higher blocking scores. Countries shown in yellow are known to have SMS blocking, but no usable public statistic has yet been found.

Among countries with scorable public data, the Philippines currently has the highest rate, at 114,682 blocked SMS per million inhabitants per day. Malaysia follows with 42,297, Norway with 31,430, and the United Kingdom with 26,792. At the lower end, Poland’s published figure equates to just 141 blocked SMS per million inhabitants per day.

Cease to resist, giving my goodbye
Drive my car into the ocean
You’ll think I’m dead, but I sail away
On a wave of mutilation

This is the final Commsrisk article. The website will continue to host the Commsrisk Global Fraud Dashboard under the stewardship of James Greenley, the software engineer who created it, for as long as he can find financial backers to support that work. Presenting reams of objective data compiled from varied international sources is the best way to build on the platform constructed during the first two decades of this website. Facts and figures need to rule; words are too messy and too easily twisted. My regular narratives about the communications sector end now, not with regret, but with pleasure. I am glad to be released to live a different life to the one that has consumed so much of me.