FCC Announces Formation of Hospital Robocall Protection Group
Last week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced the formation of a Hospital Robocall Protection Group. According to the FCC, this group—whose formation is mandated by the TRACED Act—will work to develop best practices for the following:
As robocalls have become an increasingly prominent issue, software developers have produced a bevy of anti-robocall apps. Most of these are variations on a call-blocking theme but one new app takes things much further. DoNotPay’s “robot lawyer” app has a new feature, called Robo Revenge, that essentially baits robocallers into Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) lawsuits.
As we previously noted, the Pennsylvania state legislature passed a bill enacting new restrictions on robocalls. Now governor Tom Wolf has signed that bill into law.
On July 25th, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), along with its state and federal partners, announced a major crackdown on illegal robocalls. The program, called Operation Call It Quits, includes 94 actions targeting operations responsible for over one billion calls.
Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved a Declaratory Ruling that will allow phone service providers to block robocalls by default. Reasonable call analytics will be used by the services providers to determine if default blocking will be allowed.
On Thursday May 23rd, 2019, the Senate approved the TRACED Act which will dramatically increase fines for illegal robocalls. The bill passed with an overwhelming 97-1 vote. Only a single vote from Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) was against the legislation. The TRACED Act’s next stop is the House of Representatives.
The TRACED Act (Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act)was sponsored by Senators John Thune (R-SD), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Roger Wicker (R-MS). Its purpose is to combat robocalls with stronger deterrents.
On May 15, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) submitted a proposal that would allow phone carriers to block unwanted robocalls to their customers by default. Most phone service providers offer call-blocking as an opt-in service, but this new initiative would allow robocall blocking by phone carriers without opt-in.
A Wisconsin court issued a ruling this month that could result in more TCPA lawsuits against automated calling and texting platform providers. In the court’s ruling on Cunningham v.