Acting FCC Chair Rosenworcel Announces Anti-Robocall Agenda
Acting Chair of the Federal Communications Commission Jessica Rosenworcel has announced her first major agenda items relating to the Commission’s ongoing project to regulate robocalls.
FTC
The 12 States With State-Level DNC Lists
When the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) implemented the National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry in 2003, 32 states already managed their own DNC lists. In the ensuing years, most of those states chose to forgo the continued maintenance of state-specific lists and adopted the federal list.
What Is a Robocall?
At first glance, it may seem like too rudimentary a question to even bother considering: what is a robocall? But try to answer it with any degree of specificity or legal precision and the ambiguity becomes clear. “Robocall” is a colloquial term of significant political and rhetorical consequence.
2021 TCPA Compliance Trends
There’s been a trend in outbound sales and lead generation over the last few years. You might describe it as a gradually constricting strangle on the ability of outbound call centers to actually get through to consumers. It’s no secret that this trend runs a parallel course with the trends of increasing TCPA compliance restrictions and other FCC led efforts to shield consumers from telemarketing abuse.
One Year Later: Tracking the Implementation of the TRACED Act
December 30, 2020 marks the one year anniversary of President Donald Trump signing the Pallone-Thune TRACED Act into law. The law, whose name is an acronym for Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence, is the first major federal telemarketing legislation in more than a decade.
What Are the Penalties Associated with TCPA Violations?
This is the first entry in our new series, Your Questions Answered, in which we give detailed answers to TCPA and DNC questions asked by our readers. If you'd like to ask a question for a future entry, there is a form at the bottom of the page.
TCPA vs. DNC
Telemarketing compliance is made difficult by the byzantine nature of telemarketing regulations. Any marketer can be forgiven for struggling to keep track of the varying levels of laws, regulatory agencies, and other enforcement mechanisms. However, there are two acronyms that loom large enough in the regulatory landscape that everybody knows them, even if they don’t really understand what they mean: TCPA and DNC.
FTC Fines VoIP Service Provider $2 Million for TSR Violations
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the State of Ohio have announced that they are fining Globex Telecom, Inc.—a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service provider—approximately $2 million for violating multiple consumer protection regulations, including the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) and Ohio’s Telephone Solicitation Sales Act.
Who Needs a SAN?
Any company who is calling or texting is required by law to suppress phone numbers against the National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry. A SAN (Subscription Account Number) must be purchased and renewed annually in order to download the DNC registry. Many callers find the rules relating to and process for acquiring a SAN to be confusing.
The Possibility of TCPA Being Invalidated Is No Reason for Complacency
The entire telemarketing industry is awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision in AAPC v. Barr, the case that very may well invalidate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) in its entirety. However, the possibility that the main federal enforcement mechanism for regulating telemarketing may soon disappear is no reason for marketers to become lax in their compliance efforts.