A bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives — by the author of the TRACED Act — to close the “loophole” created by the Supreme Court in the Facebook v. Duguid ruling and provide consumers with more protections against robocalls and the growing use of artificial intelligence in facilitating robocalls.
The Who: The Do Not Disturb Act, H.R. 7116, was introduced by Rep. Frank Pallone [D-N.J.], the author of the TRACED Act and the Ranking Member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over telecommunications policy, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission.
The What: Among a lot of other provisions, the bill would:
- Define a robocall as a call or text message sent
- “using equipment, whether hardware, software, or a combination thereof and including an automatic telephone dialing system, that makes a call or sends a text message to:
- stored telephone numbers, or
- telephone numbers produced using a random or sequential number generator; or
- using an artificial or prerecorded voice or an artificially generate message.
- “using equipment, whether hardware, software, or a combination thereof and including an automatic telephone dialing system, that makes a call or sends a text message to:
- Callers using artificial intelligence to emulate human interaction over the phone or via text messages would be required to disclose the use of AI and would face double the current robocall penalties under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act or the Telemarketing Sales Rule.
- Require network service providers to offer robocall detection and blocking services at no additional cost to customers instead of charging for the service.
The Why: “Today I’m introducing legislation that brings anti-robocall protections into the 21st century and ensures illegal robocallers and scam artists can’t exploit new loopholes even as technology continues to evolve,” Rep. Pallone said in a statement. “This comprehensive legislation is long overdue to protect Americans from these annoying calls and texts, and I look forward to the hard work ahead to see it across the finish line and signed into law.”
