The Attorney General of Connecticut is working with a bipartisan coalition of state legislators to update the state’s anti-robocall law, saying the law needs to be modernized to stay in line with communication trends and new technology. The proposed legislation would expand the definition of robocall to include text messages, …
Read More »Bipartisan Bill Reintroduced in House to Stiffen Penalties for TCPA Violations
A bipartisan bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives that would stiffen the penalties for violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, essentially criminalizing violations in situations where the actions were willful and knowing, while also introducing longer jail terms for repeat violators. A copy of the proposed legislation, …
Read More »FCC Takes More Action to Fight Illegal Robocalls
The Federal Communications Commission last week put voice service providers on notice that it is taking its fight against illegal robocalls seriously, ordering a pair of providers to stop carrying suspected illegal robocalls while also telling all providers to investigate their networks for signs of alleged illegal activity and report …
Read More »FCC Affirms 3-Call Limit to Landlines, Amends Consent Requirements to Make More Calls
The Federal Communications Commission has issued a declaratory ruling in response to pair of requests — including one made by ACA International — related to a 2020 order implementing portions of the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act, affirming a three-call-limit for calls made using automated …
Read More »Anti-Robocall Bill Introduced in Washington State
The Attorney General of Washington is working with a member of the state legislature to introduce legislation aimed at curbing illegal robocalls in the state, updating a current law that the AG says is “weak and out-of-date.” The new law, if enacted, would prohibit making robocalls to individuals on the …
Read More »FCC Launches Portal for Entities to Report Robocalls, Spoofing
The Federal Communications Commission announced yesterday that it has opened a portal for private entities to report suspicious robocall, robotext, and spoofing campaigns. The portal is meant for organizations — essentially entities other than consumers and private citizens — to let the FCC know of a problem. The portal can …
Read More »FCC Banishes Telecom Company After Not Addressing Robocall Rules
The Federal Communications Commission yesterday announced it had excommunicated a telecom company for failing to take the necessary steps to block consumers from receiving robocalls, ordering other companies to stop accepting traffic from Global UC. Global UC was one of six companies warned last month by the FCC that its …
Read More »FCC Enforcement Action to Block Calls from Seven Carriers
For the first time ever, the Federal Communications Commission has announced enforcement actions that will remove seven different carriers from its Robocall Mitigation Database after being accused of failing to implement anti-spam measures like the STIR/SHAKEN protocols. The companies have 14 days to prove to the FCC why they should …
Read More »State AGs Back More Anti-Robocall Efforts from FCC
State Attorneys General from across the country are calling on the Federal Communications Commission to take further efforts to reduce the number of illegal robocalls being received by their constituents, including more outright blocking of calls. The state AGs — 51 of them — submitted their letter as a comment …
Read More »Robocall Numbers Declining, But Robotext Volume Exploding: Report
The number of scam robocalls has dropped by nearly 50% in the past year, but the number of scam text messages has increased by a factor of 12 in the same timeframe, according to a report released this week by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund. As well, about 80% of …
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