The author of the TRACED Act is planning to introduce new legislation aimed at fixing the “loopholes” related to robocalls being made by automated telephone dialing systems. (ATDS)
Rep. Frank Pallone [D-N.J.], the architect of the TRACED Act in the House of Representatives and the Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said that the ruling from the Supreme Court in Facebook v. Duguid is the reason why consumers continue to be “bombarded” with robocalls. The Supreme Court’s interpretation of what defines an ATDS is too narrow, Rep. Pallone said, and “undermined the very foundation of existing anti-robocalls protections” meaning that many of the systems used by companies and scammers alike do not meet the threshold created by the ruling. The Supreme Court’s ruling defined an ATDS as one that has “the capacity either to store a telephone number using a random or sequential generator or to produce a telephone number using a random or sequential number generator.”
The TRACED Act was signed into law in 2020 and is one of the major pieces of legislation enacted in recent years aimed at reducing the number of robocalls consumers receive.
“I am determined to continue working to put an end to this problem once and for all,” Rep. Pallone said in a statement. “In the coming months, I’ll be introducing legislation to fix loopholes that allow these calls to continue, update the authorities of our expert agencies, and empower consumers.”
