Following up on last month’s actions, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced a set of three robocall actions under the tenure of Acting Chair Jessica Rosenworcel. These actions are largely focused on telecom carriers.
The the FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau issued a Public Notice to phone companies and call-blocking technology developers asking for information about what tools will be available to consumers. In order to be able to include this information in the FCC’s upcoming second Call Blocking Report, phone companies have until April 30 to provide information to the FCC, including about the following:
- Whether the companies are offering call blocking tools to consumers at no charge.
- How the companies measure the effectiveness of blocking tools.
- What protections the companies have put in place to ensure that call blocking does not interfere with emergency services.
The FCC has also sent cease-and-desist letters to two voice providers that seem to be transmitting illegal robocall campaigns about auto warranties and credit card debt scams. The letters instruct the providers to take steps to prevent such calls and gives authorization to downstream providers to block all traffic from the warned providers should they fail to comply within 48 hours. The FCC also warns of further consequences if the warned providers do not impenetrable effective measures to prevent such illegal robocalls from happening in the future.
The FCC announced the launch of a consumer-focused webpage on the Commission’s efforts to prevent robocalls. This webpage “outlines the agency’s progress in using its strengthened enforcement authority, progress on updated call blocking rules, and steps taken to implement new Caller ID authentication technology.”
