Blocking unwanted communications via text modalities

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a text communication from a telephone number of a sender, wherein the text communication is directed to a recipient;

determining whether to challenge the sender, wherein determining whether to challenge the sender comprises:

determining whether the text communication includes a routing permission code provided by the recipient authorizing text communications to be received by the recipient from the telephone number of the sender and whether the text communication is received during a time window provided by the recipient; and

responsive to determining to challenge the sender:

transmitting a challenge to the sender;

determining whether to route the text communication to the recipient based on whether a successful response to the challenge is received from the sender;

determining that an unsuccessful response is received from the sender; and

responsive to determining that the unsuccessful response is received from the sender, blocking routing of future communications from the telephone number for a duration that is based on a number of unsuccessful responses received from the telephone number.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the routing permission code is configured by the recipient.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether to challenge the sender comprises:

transmitting a communication to the recipient indicating the text communication from the telephone number; and

receiving from the recipient a response indicating to challenge the sender.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining not to challenge the sender responsive to determining that the text communication includes the routing permission code associated with the recipient.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving one or more routing permission codes from the recipient, wherein the sender is not challenged if the text communication includes at least one of the one or more routing permission codes.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining not to challenge the sender responsive to determining that the telephone number is included in a contact list of a user other than the recipient.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the text communication is a first text communication, further comprising:

receiving a second text communication from the telephone number directed to an intended recipient; and

determining not to route the second text communication to the intended recipient responsive to determining that the telephone number is in a do-not-allow list.

8. A device, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor, the processor configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:

receive a text communication from a telephone number of a sender, wherein the text communication is directed to a recipient;

determine whether to challenge the sender, wherein to determine whether to challenge the sender comprises to:

determine whether the text communication includes a routing permission code provided by the recipient authorizing text communications to be received by the recipient from the telephone number of the sender and whether the text communication is received during a time window provided by the recipient; and

responsive to determining to challenge the sender:

transmit a challenge to the sender responsive to determining to challenge the sender;

determine whether to route the text communication to the recipient based on whether a successful response to the challenge is received from the sender;

determine that an unsuccessful response is received from the sender; and

responsive to determining that the unsuccessful response is received from the sender, block routing of future communications from the telephone number for a duration that is based on a number of unsuccessful responses received from the telephone number.

9. The device of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:

store a record indicating the text communication from the telephone number to the recipient.

10. The device of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute instructions to:

determine not to challenge the recipient responsive to determining that the telephone number is included in a global white list of telephone numbers.

11. The device of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:

determine to route the text communication to the recipient responsive to determining that the telephone number is included in a global white list of telephone numbers.

12. The device of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:

determine not to challenge the sender responsive to determining that the text communication includes an indicium of the recipient.

13. The device of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:

receive the routing permission code related to the sender; and

store the routing permission code in association with the telephone number.

14. The device of claim 8 , wherein to instructions to determine to challenge the sender comprise to:

receive from the recipient an indication to challenge the sender.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions operable to cause one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving a text communication from a telephone number of a sender, wherein the text communication is directed to a recipient;

determining whether to challenge the sender, wherein determining whether to challenge the sender comprises:

determining whether the text communication includes a routing permission code provided by the recipient authorizing text communications to be received by the recipient from the telephone number of the sender and whether the text communication is received during a time window provided by the recipient; and

responsive to determining to challenge the sender:

transmitting a challenge to the sender responsive to determining to challenge the sender;

determining whether to route the text communication to the recipient based on whether a successful response to the challenge is received from the sender;

determining that an unsuccessful response is received from the sender; and

responsive to determining that the unsuccessful response is received from the sender, blocking routing of future communications from the telephone number for a duration that is based on a number of unsuccessful responses received from the telephone number.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein determining whether to challenge the sender comprises:

determining to challenge the sender responsive to determining that the text communication does not include an indicium of the recipient.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein determining whether to challenge the sender comprises:

determining not to challenge the sender responsive to determining that the telephone number is included in a global white list of telephone numbers.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise:

responsive to determining not to challenge the sender, routing the text communication to the recipient.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise:

responsive to determining that the telephone number is blocked, dropping the text communication.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the text communication is a first text communication, the operations further comprise:

responsive to determining that the telephone number is in a do-not-allow list, blocking routing of a second text communication received from to the telephone number to an intended recipient of the second text communication.