ACA International is fighting back hard against a pair of bills in Congress that would update the definition of an automated telephone dialing system (ATDS) in an attempt to quell the number of illegal robocalls being made.
The bills — one of which was introduced in the Senate and the other which was introduced in the House of Representatives — are “not appropriately tailored to achieving that objective,” wrote ACA International CEO Mark Neeb in a letter to the leadership of the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, according to a report from the association.
Along with the traditional definitions of what constitutes an autodialer — technology that has the capacity to dial telephone numbers that are either produced randomly or sequentially — the bills would add to the definition by including technology or equipment that makes calls or sends text messages to numbers that are stored on a list.
“ACA members strongly agree that consumers deserve to be treated fairly and respectfully,” Neeb wrote. “However, the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act is not tailored to that goal and it instead does more harm than good by creating additional confusion, in an already confusing marketplace for determining how to comply with the TCPA.”
The report says that ACA International has met with staff from the Senate Commerce Committee to lobby against the bill.
While acknowledging its support for efforts to “stop unlawful robocalls,” companies, like collection agencies, making calls to individuals “should be able to use modern dialing technology to reach consumers in the way they want to be contacted.” Portions of both bills “could threaten communications from legitimate businesses,” ACA International warned.
