FCC OKs Reassigned Number Database Order With Safe Harbor From Liability
The FCC voted 4-0 to create a reassigned phone number database to help combat unwanted and illegal robocalls to people with new numbers. Commissioners added a safe harbor, giving some protection from Telephone Consumer Protection Act liability to parties using the database, as some expected (see 1812110014). Also at the monthly meeting Wednesday, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel announced she wrote major voice providers asking them to offer consumers free robocall blocking solutions. And the FCC classified wireless messaging as a Communications Act Title I service, with Rosenworcel dissenting and decrying agency "doublespeak" about robotexting claims (see 1812120043).
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The order authorizes a comprehensive database to enable callers to verify whether a number has been permanently disconnected and thus possibly reassigned. "They'll be able to avoid calling numbers that have been or could've been reassigned to somebody else," reducing mistaken calls, said Chairman Ajit Pai. "This decision will help cut down on the number of unwanted calls," said Commissioner Brendan Carr, noted neighbors lobbied him against robocalls. Voice providers are to update their number data monthly and there will be a 45-day "aging period" before disconnected numbers can be reassigned. Small providers will get an additional six months before having to report data, Pai said.
A competitive bidding process will be used to select a database administrator, which will be authorized to collect start-up costs from providers and operating costs from users. The North American Numbering Council is directed to make recommendations on database technical and operational issues. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly urged NANC "to focus on minimizing costs and burdens for users and service providers and ensuring that it is reasonably affordable."
The addition of the safe harbor, not in the draft order (see 1811230028), would encourage callers to use the database by giving them liability protection "for any calls to reassigned numbers caused by database error," the agency said. "This will ensure that a responsible caller who uses this database will not be held liable for accidentally making a call to a reassigned number," Pai said.
O'Rielly and Carr said they asked for the safe harbor. "Costs of creating, maintaining, and using the database will be significant, and we simply cannot justify it without providing a corresponding benefit to callers who pay to use it," said O'Rielly. He said the "robust" safe harbor is "a critical improvement," urging further actions to shield users from "pointless lawsuits." He welcomed Pai's commitment to revisit TCPA regulations "promptly," and called for narrowing a definition of "autodialers" -- which face TCPA restrictions -- and addressing a "called party" definition. "I am optimistic that our next steps will go a long way in reading the TCPA in a logical way and limiting wasteful and frivolous TCPA litigation that does nothing to protect consumers," he said.
Rosenworcel backed the database but said it won't be operating "anytime soon," lacking a deadline. To help consumers immediately, she said she wrote major voice providers "requesting they make robocall blocking tools available to every consumer at no cost where it is technically feasible." Some providers make the tools available free, but everyone should "be able to access these tools for free," said her news release on the letters seeking replies by Jan. 14 from AT&T, Bandwidth, CenturyLink, Charter, Comcast, Cox Communications, Frontier Communications, Google, Sprint, TDS, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Verizon and Vonage. Those are the same providers Pai pressed on call-authentication plans (see 1811050055 and 1811200027). Pai acknowledged Wednesday there's "no silver bullet" for ending robocalls, saying that's why the FCC is pursuing a "comprehensive strategy" that also includes enforcement actions and call blocking.
House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., “was pleased with the draft order" and will review the final order once it's available, he said. The database could “help protect consumers with reassigned numbers from receiving unwanted robocalls,” Pallone said. He noted his Stopping Bad Robocalls Act (HR-6026), which would require the FCC to establish the database (see 1806070043), also “includes provisions that would codify [Rosenworcel's] demand for carriers to make robocall blocking tools available to their customers for free. Robocalls are a major nuisance for consumers and I will push for comprehensive legislation to protect consumers in the coming Congress.”
“Once implemented, this database will help legitimate callers avoid making unwanted calls and texts to Americans who have acquired the phone number of a previous user who had signed up for messages,” said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D, and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., a TCPA author. NCTA said it "particularly appreciates" the safe harbor, which it sought (see 1812050033). AT&T Executive Vice President Joan Marsh said the order "provides another layer of protection for consumers against unwanted calls and correctly establishes a safe harbor." The database "will end robocallers’ frequent excuse that they had no way to know they were calling consumers who had not provided consent to receive robocalls and text messages," said Consumer Reports.