States, EPIC Urge SCOTUS to Broadly Read TCPA in Facebook Robocall Case
The Supreme Court should broadly read the Telephone Consumer Protection Act to protect consumers from unwanted robocalls, said an amicus brief Friday by a bipartisan coalition of 37 states and Washington, D.C. The AGs urged the court to uphold the…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision in Duguid v. Facebook. Facebook’s “cramped interpretation would hamper State efforts to enforce the TCPA and to protect consumers from illegal calls” and “allow robocallers to easily evade the statute’s prohibitions,” the states said. The Electronic Privacy Information Center and a group of legal scholars and technical experts said the type of autodialer used makes no difference in whether TCPA applies: It's "an important tool to limit the overwhelming privacy invasions caused by these unwanted automated calls, and the ban should be interpreted in a way that actually limits mass dialing without user consent.” Capitol Hill Democrats also urged the Supreme Court to uphold the 9th Circuit ruling (see 2010220064). The court received other amicus briefs supporting the 9th Circuit decision by Columbia University professor and former FCC Chief Technology Officer Henning Schulzrinne and two consumers. Facebook filed a motion Friday to allocate 15 of its 30 minutes at Dec. 8 oral argument to DOJ, supporting Facebook.