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Ajit Pai proposes new rule that would allow carriers to block robocalls
On Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission announced a new measure that would grant mobile phone carriers new abilities to block the growing number of unwanted robocalls.
The new rule would make it easier for carriers, like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, to automatically register their customers for call-blocking technology. As of right now, customers have to opt-in on their own. It would also allow customers to block calls coming from phone numbers that are not on their contacts list. Commissioners are expected to vote on the measure at their June 6th meeting.
"Allowing call blocking by default could be a big benefit for consumers who are sick and tired of robocalls," FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said. "By making it clear that such call blocking is allowed, the FCC will give voice service providers the legal certainty they need to block unwanted calls from the outset so that consumers never have to get them."
[...] A majority of the US Senate already backs legislation from Sens. John Thune (R-SD) and Ed Markey (D-MA) that would make it easier for the FCC to seek financial penalties from robocallers and provide both regulators and law enforcement additional tools to combat these unwanted and illegal calls.
Members in the House of Representatives like Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) also have their own anti-robocalling legislation that differs from what's been proposed in the Senate, but it includes some similar language, like increasing the length of time the FCC has to find and go after bad actors.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 20 2019, @11:31AM
Make it so that the caller has to pay the cost of the call. AFAIK one of the few places in the world where the person called generally foots the bill is the USA. You'll still get spam calls even if you reverse the charging, but they'll likely be much more considered because now it will cost money for them to make such calls, so they have to be reasonably sure that a rather higher percentage of calls will be to people who will actually listen and do something that will make them more money than they spend by calling. A robocall will probably not be economically viable under such a system.