FCC Expands Anti-Spoofing Rules; CTIA Falls Short on Short Codes Exclusion
The FCC approved updated anti-spoofing rules 5-0 Thursday but stopped short of excluding short codes from the rules, a late change sought by CTIA (see 1907290054). Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel raised concerns that the agency isn’t doing enough to fight robocalls. Other commissioners supported the item without quibbles. The order implements part of Ray Baum's Act. “The new rules will allow the agency to bring enforcement actions against bad actors who spoof text messages and those who seek out victims in this country from overseas,” said an FCC news release. The rules also now cover texting.
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CTIA argued short code messages are unique and there's no evidence in the record that anyone can spoof a short code or tamper with caller ID information. Short codes are digit sequences, shorter than phone numbers, used to address messages in the texting systems operated by wireless carriers.
Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said he's sympathetic to CTIA’s concerns but excluding short codes didn’t “make the cut,” though new language in the order makes clear the FCC is addressing the status only in the context of the Truth in Caller ID rules. “The definitions of text messaging and voice services are broader than my liking and may cause future unintended consequences,” he said.
O’Rielly also questioned how effective the FCC will be in going after international spoofers. “The expanded extraterritorial jurisdiction may prove difficult to execute in uncooperative nations and come back to bite us in other contexts,” he said.
“There is no public process for holding carriers who put this junk on the line accountable. There needs to be one,” Rosenworcel said: “It should start with the FCC naming and shaming the carriers responsible for letting these nuisance calls onto the network. In other words, we could use this trace-back process to shine a light on the worst offenders.”
The FCC should also use its enforcement authority to go after carriers that aid robocallers, Rosenworcel said. “This could start by declaring that originating carriers that actively and knowingly facilitate illegal robocalls are engaging in an unjust and unreasonable practice in violation of the Communications Act,” she said: “This would make it possible for the agency to penalize carriers responsible for these calls and even, if necessary, revoke their authorization to provide service.”
The other FCC Democrat, Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, said he's “pleased that the Enforcement Bureau will now have greater ability to target harmful calls coming from outside the United States and reach spoofing using a wider range of services.”
In the first half of the year, the FCC received more than 35,000 consumer complaints about caller ID spoofing, said Chairman Ajit Pai. “Whether it’s neighborhood spoofing, which makes it look like an incoming call is from a local number, or spoofing the number of a company or government agency that consumers know and trust, scammers continue to hide behind spoofed numbers to deceive and defraud American consumers out of money and personal information,” he said. The FCC moved quickly, acting on a rulemaking notice commissioners approved in February (see 1902140039).
House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., said in a Thursday NBCNews.com opinion piece they have a “shared commitment with leaders in the Senate to stop abusive robocall practices” that makes them confident “we will soon deliver” a compromise measure to President Donald Trump. The House Commerce leaders and Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., are eyeing informal conference talks over the August recess (see 1907260072) in a bid to marry elements of the House-passed Stopping Bad Robocalls Act (HR-3375) and the Senate-passed Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act (S-151). “Regulators and the industry need even better tools to guard every American, and once again, that means Congress must act,” Pallone and Walden said.