FCC Has Made Robocalls Its Prime Consumer Focus, Chief of Staff Says
Blocking unwanted and illegal robocalls is the FCC’s No. 1 consumer objective, Chief of Staff Matthew Berry told the agency’s Consumer Affairs Committee Monday. The FCC is pursuing a “multipronged strategy,” including taking enforcement action against bad actors, Berry said. “There’s a lot going on here.” After his remarks, the CAC approved recommendations from one of its working groups on blocking unwanted calls.
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Robocalls are the top consumer complaint at the agency and the one Berry hears the most about when he tells people he works at there, he said. “The reason that’s our top consumer protection priority is because that’s what the America people are telling us to focus on.” Robocalls aren’t “going to be solved overnight,” he said. “There’s not one thing you can do to snap your fingers and make it go away.”
CAC has a role to play in helping stop caller ID spoofing, which is “a major problem,” Berry said. The FCC proposed allowing carriers to block calls when the Caller ID is from an invalid or unassigned number, he noted. The record doesn’t show “any valid reason why a legitimate caller should be spoofing their ID,” he said.
The agency also has a pending notice of inquiry out on establishing a call authentication system, Berry said (see 1707130054). “You can think of this kind of being a digital fingerprint for a phone call.” The regulator has gotten comments and is looking at the issue “very closely,” he said. “We think that this has a lot of promise for trying to cut down dramatically on unwanted robocalls,” he said. “We certainly appreciate everything that industry has been doing to try to help us.” Chairman Ajit Pai wants industry to do more to develop the framework, he said. The FCC is also focused on a database for reassigned numbers, so they can't be used as fake Caller IDs.
In taking on bad actors, “tough enforcement is very important,” Berry said. The agency proposed the largest fine in its history, $120 million against an alleged Florida robocaller, he said (see 1706220046). “We’re doing everything we can.”
The FCC also is “cracking down” on cramming and slamming, Berry said. Rural call completion also is a priority, he said. “We think it has been a problem for years that you’re less likely to complete a call if you’re calling rural America.” The prior FCC approved rules and it's taking a “fresh look” under Pai, he said. “We think that there are improvements that could be made to the rules that would be more effective in … trying to crack down on the practices that result in less call completion.”
CAC approved blocking recommendations from its Robocall Working Group on unwanted calls. The report said carriers should be able to block calls on a do-not originate list and also calls with invalid, unallocated or unassigned numbers, said Kevin Rupy of USTelecom, co-chair of the working group. The report recommends carriers block all those calls, Rupy said.
The working group encourages voice providers to offer optional blocking tools outside those areas and calls on the FCC to study the effectiveness of the tools within two years of when they are finalized, Rupy asked: “What’s working, what’s not working? What’s available to consumers? Are there fees charged?” The group also urged industry to work with consumer groups on situations where there's “unintended” blocking of legitimate calls, he said. “This is not going to be 100 percent perfect.”
Chris Gibbons, physician adviser to the Connect2Health FCC Task Force, said broadband is increasingly important to healthcare, and the FCC must get that message out to consumers. The agency has been listening, he said. “We’re especially interested in the consumer perspective -- not the perspective of professionals, of doctors of … telecom providers,” Gibbons said. “Are most consumers aware that broadband-based technologies can actually help them with their health?” The FCC wants a better view of what’s happening in the market, he said. “What recommendations do consumers have about what they would like to see the FCC do?”
The agency is finding many reasons that broadband adoption is low in some communities, starting with lack of infrastructure, Gibbons said. There's no “silver bullet,” he said. In some cases, costs are too high or the technologies aren’t the ones consumers are looking for, he said. Seniors “didn’t grow up in this world” of broadband, but “they get it,” they know they need to be online and don’t want to be left behind, he said.