The Federal Communications Commission is seeking comment on a proposed Robocall Mitigation Scorecard that would publicly rate voice service providers on how effectively they protect customers from illegal robocalls.
The scorecard would apply to domestic wireless, wireline and VoIP providers with retail customers, including hybrid networks, but not to wholesale or intermediate providers. The FCC said it does not intend to rate every provider and asked whether to limit the scorecard to companies that collectively serve the vast majority of the retail market, and whether small or regional providers should be excluded or treated differently.
The notice distinguishes between conduct-based metrics, such as provider-offered blocking tools, responses to traceback requests and attestation of SIP calls, and outcome-based metrics, such as consumer complaints filed with the FCC and Federal Trade Commission, the number or percentage of calls blocked, and trend data on illegal robocalls reaching subscribers. The bureau proposed tracking the false positive rate, the rate at which legitimate calls are mistakenly blocked, as a separate measure of blocking accuracy, and asked for comment on the best sources of data on erroneous blocking.
Potential data sources identified in the notice include Robocall Mitigation Database filings, FCC Consumer Complaints Center data, FCC enforcement actions, Industry Traceback Group data and FTC complaint data. The bureau acknowledged that the filing of a complaint does not necessarily indicate a provider failed to stop an illegal call.
The FCC said the scorecard is not a rulemaking and will not create new rules or requirements for providers, and that ratings will not indicate whether a provider has complied with the commission’s robocall rules. The notice asks whether providers should be able to review and respond to data before publication, whether scores should use letter grades, numeric scales or risk tiers, and how often the scorecard should be updated.
