Caller ID Spoofing NPRM Could Complicate Work on TCPA, May Get 5-0 Vote
A caller ID spoofing NPRM set for a vote at the Thursday commissioners’ meeting is expected to be approved unanimously, industry and FCC officials said. That's especially important given consumer and Capitol Hill concerns about robocalls, officials said. The provisions implement part of the Ray Baum's Act legislative package, signed last March (see 1803230038)
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The notice proposes extending the reach of Truth in Caller ID Act rules to include “covered communications originating from outside the United States to recipients within" the U.S. It asks about expanding the scope of covered communications to include texts.
It also asks about definitions of the terms “text message,” “text messaging service,” “voice service,” “caller identification information” and “caller identification service.” It asks whether any other changes are necessary to caller ID rules. The draft NPRM notes that in 2018, the agency received more than 52,000 consumer complaints about caller ID spoofing.
A former spectrum official said the only concern is that the NPRM could get in the way of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau addressing petitions seeking FCC action on Telephone Consumer Protection Act rules. “Will CGB be able to act on these petitions when, in a separate proceeding, the commission is asking questions about, for example, the definitions for text message, text messaging service and voice service?” the lawyer asked.
There has been virtually no lobbying on the draft NPRM since Chairman Ajit Pai circulated it for a vote, originally for the Jan. 30 meeting (see 1901030039). The FCC didn't comment.
David Frankel, CEO of call conferencing company ZipDX, made a January filing and later spoke with an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. When the commission adopted the 2011 order implementing the rule, "it promised" that if the rules are insufficient to "deter malicious caller ID spoofing ... we can revisit the issue,” Frankel said in docket 18-335. “The rules are not sufficient. Now is the time to make good on this promise.”
Frankel told us Tuesday he made the original filing because he’s concerned the NPRM doesn’t go far enough. “Robocall mitigation is kind of like apple pie and motherhood. It’s pretty hard to be against it,” he said. The only people who won’t like rules are illegal robocallers, he said.
The 2011 order is “littered with phrases like ‘we choose to defer this; we’re going to not take action … at this time; we’re going to wait and see what we’ve learned,'” Frankel said. “Now it’s eight years later. This robocalling is out of control.”
Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel repeatedly called for action to curb robocalls. Starks also laid down a marker in a Feb. 1 news release on robocall legislation by Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., and Ed Markey, D-Mass. Robocalls are “annoying, disruptive, and predatory,” Starks said. “As a former enforcement official at the FCC, I agree that the additional tools in this bill will enhance the Commission’s abilities to track down illegal robocallers, stop them, and hold them accountable.”