FCC Offers Some Clarity on Text Messages and TCPA
The FCC clarified in a declaratory order that wireless consumers should be able to receive package delivery notifications without the sender violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The FCC also provided clarity on the TCPA and its applicability to administrative text messages sent by social networks. FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly concurred with the orders, saying they are helpful. On Tuesday, O'Rielly said in a blog post it’s time for the FCC to provide clarity on the TCPA (http://fcc.us/O5UKc2).
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"My only hesitation is on the applicability of the TCPA to text messages,” O'Rielly said. “The TCPA was enacted in 1991 -- before the first text message was ever sent. I was not at the Commission when it decided that the TCPA does apply to text messages, and I may have approached it differently. It would have been better if the Commission had gone back to Congress for clear guidance on the issue. I will look for opportunities, like the ones presented here, to ensure that our rules do not stand in the way of innovation and certainty that benefits consumers and businesses alike.”
The first order came in response to request by the Cargo Airline Association. CAA said “package delivery companies generally do not have any contact with a recipient until a package is shipped and that it would be impossible, given the volume of daily package deliveries, to manually dial each delivery notification call to wireless phone numbers or to obtain prior express consent from each package recipient before notifying the recipient on his or her phone,” the FCC said (http://bit.ly/P93oXR). “CAA also argues that delivery notifications benefit consumers because they significantly reduce package theft from front porches and building lobbies.”
The FCC granted CAA’s request, but with conditions. Among them is that a notification must be sent only to the telephone number for the package recipient and must include the name of the delivery company and contact information for the delivery company. Notifications also must be concise and “must not include any telemarketing, solicitation, or advertising content,” the FCC said. “Apart from consumers not being charged for the notifications and the conditions to ensure consumers’ privacy rights are protected, we find that these notifications are the types of normal, expected communications the TCPA was not designed to hinder, thus further persuading us that an exemption is warranted,” the FCC said.
The second order responds to a request by GroupMe/Skype. “We clarify that text-based social networks may send administrative texts confirming consumers’ interest in joining such groups without violating the TCPA because, when consumers give express consent to participate in the group, they are the types of expected and desired communications TCPA was not designed to prohibit, even when that consent is conveyed to the text-based social network by an intermediary,” the FCC said (http://bit.ly/1lrObiK). “To ensure that the TCPA’s consumer protection goals are not circumvented, we emphasize that social networks that rely on third-party representations regarding consent remain liable for TCPA violations when a consumer’s consent was not obtained."