The Federal Communications Commission has amended its rules to limit the number of robocalls made to home phones by exempt organizations (tax-exempt non-profits, non-telemarketing robocalls) to three per month and such callers are now also required to allow consumers to opt out of such calls, which they were unable to do previously. The rules also require terminating voice service providers to ensure that their networks are not being used for illegal robocalls by ‘affirmative action’ when notified by the commission of same, and will be required to aid the FCC and law enforcement efforts to identify the providers that originate the illegal calls. The rules take it one step further and expands the safe harbors for providers that block identified illegal calls without the consumer having to opt in. Unfortunately, to qualify for safe harbors, providers must ‘target only calls highly likely to be illegal, while providing sufficient human oversight and network monitoring to ensure that blocking is working as intended’, which leaves quite a bit open to interpretation.
While we certainly applaud the FCC’s new rules regarding Robocalls, we believe they will still do little to reduce the number of illegal Robocalls that households receive daily. As more sophisticated caller ID spoofing gives RoboCallers a way to make consumers think that they are getting a local call rather than a RoboCall, by the time the number is reported the RoboCallers have spoofed another number. The only way to end the practice is to have the end provider trace the originating network source, which is likely outside of the US, and therefore a difficult target for US authorities, unless they are willing to take up each problem with the local authorities, which would take manpower and legal resources far greater than the government is willing to allocate. Until then, don’t pick up the phone unless you know who the caller is, unless you are interested in extending the warranty of your vehicle or getting that ‘free’ vacation to the Bahamas…
While we certainly applaud the FCC’s new rules regarding Robocalls, we believe they will still do little to reduce the number of illegal Robocalls that households receive daily. As more sophisticated caller ID spoofing gives RoboCallers a way to make consumers think that they are getting a local call rather than a RoboCall, by the time the number is reported the RoboCallers have spoofed another number. The only way to end the practice is to have the end provider trace the originating network source, which is likely outside of the US, and therefore a difficult target for US authorities, unless they are willing to take up each problem with the local authorities, which would take manpower and legal resources far greater than the government is willing to allocate. Until then, don’t pick up the phone unless you know who the caller is, unless you are interested in extending the warranty of your vehicle or getting that ‘free’ vacation to the Bahamas…
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