The Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau has published a notice that it is seeking input into the progress made by industry, government, and consumers into combatting illegal robocalls.
The notice marks another attempt by the FCC to deal with robocalls at the rulemaking level.
In seeking comment, the FCC is asking what kind of call blocking providers are conducting to keep robocalls from making it to the phones of individuals, what progress has been made toward developing a caller ID authentication system to address spoofing phone numbers, and how consumer complaint data made available by the FCC and Federal Trade Commission being used.
As well, the FCC is curious how consumers are using call-blocking tools and resources that are being provided by carriers and third parties, but seem to be more interested in how they are being used by consumers instead of how they are harming some industries, like collection agencies.
The FCC is also looking for data related to illegal robocalling, including total call volume over a given period of time — segmented by voice service provider, type of call (landline, VoIP, wireless), month, type of scam (IRS, grandparent scam, etc.), and call origin (domestic or international).
In addition, the FCC is seeking comment on call traceback, which can be “useful for identifying and enforcing against the makers of illegal robocalls.”
The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau will use the information and data in a report it is compiling, as required by an order that was issued by the FCC last year related to call blocking.
