FCC to Target Spoofed Robocalls, Texts at August Meeting

The NPRM asked about 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 also asked about expanding the scope of covered communications to include texts. The rulemaking asked about definitions of the terms “text message,” “text messaging service,” “voice service,” “caller identification information” and “caller identification service,” and whether any other changes are necessary to caller ID rules.

The order would allow the government to seize the domestic assets of foreign robocallers and work with foreign governments, a senior FCC official said on a background call with reporters Monday. In the past, the U.S. worked with India's government to close call centers that were the source of scams, said the official, who can't be identified under the rules of the call.

Pai plans to blog about other items on the meeting agenda Wednesday and draft versions will be posted Thursday, FCC officials said. The robocall order will be posted at the same time.

“The Chairman’s proposal follows a bipartisan call from more than 40 state attorneys general for the FCC to adopt these new anti-spoofing rules" and continue its 'multi-pronged approach to battle the noxious intrusion of illegal robocalls, as well as malicious caller ID spoofing,'” the FCC said in a news release Monday. The FCC said it received more than 35,000 complaints about caller ID spoofing through June 30.

“Scammers often robocall us from overseas, and when they do, they typically spoof their numbers to try and trick consumers,” Pai said. “Call center fraudsters often pretend to be calling from trusted organizations and use pressure tactics to steal from Americans. We must attack this problem with every tool we have. With these new rules, we’ll close the loopholes that hamstring law enforcement when they try to pursue international scammers and scammers using text messaging.”

The FCC stressed that 42 state attorneys general urged the FCC to act, in a filing in docket 18-335. “It is evident that the explosive growth of caller ID spoofing and robocalls is being driven primarily by scams,” the filing said. “Experts in the industry estimated that, by the end of 2018, U.S. consumers would receive a total of 40 billion robocalls, eclipsing the 2017 estimate of 30.5 billion robocalls.”

The FCC plans a Thursday summit on secure handling of asserted information using tokens technology/secure telephone identity revisited (Shaken/Stir) technology.

“Enough with the summits,” Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel tweeted Monday. “It's time to DO SOMETHING. It's time to require call authentication technology because ROBOCALLS ARE OUT OF CONTROL.”

“I just got another robocall -- I’d ban them as President,” tweeted Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang. “We have more important things to do and our time is more valuable than to be bombarded with robocalls of no interest to us.”

House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., appeared confident Monday about the prospects for Congress to reach a compromise between his Stopping Bad Robocalls Act (HR-3375) and the Senate-passed Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act (S-151). Senate Communications Subcommittee chairman and lead S-151 sponsor John Thune, R-S.D., repeatedly raised concerns that a departure from his bill could make it more difficult to clear an anti-robocalls bill through Congress (see 1906250071).

"We think [HR-3375] is better" than S-151, but if the House passes it as anticipated "we'll work with the Senate and come up with a joint bill" that can pass in both chambers, Pallone said during an appearance at the South Amboy, New Jersey, headquarters of Robokiller app company TelTech. Ethan Garr, TelTech senior vice president-strategic growth, endorsed HR-3375 during the event. Pallone again confirmed during the event that House Commerce will mark up HR-3375 before the end of July (see 1907010061). The House Communications Subcommittee advanced it in June.

The Washington Post's editorial team strongly backed HR-3375. The bill "finally puts the troops in position," though a "future that is entirely free of illegal robocalls may be a fantasy," the Post said Friday. "Even under the House bill, blocking services are allowed but not required, in part because calls coming from rural areas with copper-wire networks may be harder to authenticate." Robocallers "who currently spoof numbers may also simply adopt a new technique when authentication gets in their way -- requiring enforcers to rethink their strategy all over again," the Post said. "Still, robocallers have been attacking Americans on all fronts, and it is time to fight back on all fronts, too."