A pair of bills have been introduced in Congress that seeks to strengthen private efforts to identify the origin of robocalls by offering immunity to anyone who shares information about unlawful activity. In the House of Representatives, H.R. 7598 was introduced by Rep. Bob Latta [R-Ohio], the ranking member of …
Read More »FCC Chair Says Congress May Need to Act to Expand Definition of ATDS Under TCPA
The chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission is calling on Congress to help amend the definition of an automated telephone dialing system because the Supreme Court’s decision in Facebook v. Duguid “could lead to less consumer protection from robocalls,” she wrote in a letter responding to a request from Rep. …
Read More »FCC Proposes Largest Robocall Fine Ever as Chair Makes Comments About ‘Fix’ing Consumer Protections Under TCPA
The Federal Communications Commission has proposed its largest fine ever — $45 million — against a company accused of making “hundreds of thousands” of illegal robocalls attempting to sell health insurance. Perhaps most interestingly to companies in the accounts receivable management industry was a comment from the Chair of the …
Read More »FTC Gets Orders to Compel Compliance with CIDs
Two federal courts in California have ordered Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers to turn over information that the Federal Trade Commission is seeking as part of the agency’s investigations into illegal robocalls. The FTC yesterday issued a press release warning companies that fail to comply with such court orders may …
Read More »State AGs Call on FCC to Strengthen Protections When Assigning Phone Numbers
Attorneys general from all 50 states and the District of Columbia sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission supporting efforts to strengthen the process by which official and legitimate phone numbers are handed out, in an effort to keep those numbers out of the hands of illegitimate companies that …
Read More »Indiana AG Sues Telecom Company For Facilitating Robocall Scams
Todd Rokita, the Attorney General for the state of Indiana, yesterday announced his office has filed a lawsuit against a telecom company for acting as a gateway provider to scammers making hundreds of millions of illegal robocalls across the country. The lawsuit was filed against Startel Communications, which is owned …
Read More »FCC Takes More Action to Fight Against Robocalls
A new anti-robocall deadline went into effect last week and the Federal Communications Commission issued a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to take additional steps to block robocalls from being connected with consumers as the fight against robocalls continued. First, as of September 28, phone companies are prohibited from accepting …
Read More »All State AGs Ask FCC to Move Up Deadline for Small Telecoms to Comply with STIR/SHAKEN
If it’s one thing that all the Attorneys General across the country — regardless of whether they are Democrat or Republican — can agree on, it is their combined hatred of illegal robocalls. AGs from all 50 states and the District of Columbia yesterday filed a joint comment seeking to …
Read More »STIR/SHAKEN Compliance Deadline is Today
Today is a new day for companies making calls, including those in the accounts receivable management industry. Starting today, phone carriers are required to deploy the STIR/SHAKEN call authentication protocols that were built to combat the illegal spoofing of phone numbers and provide consumers with a level of comfort that …
Read More »Maine Enacts Anti-Robocall Law
The governor of Maine has signed a bill into law that will require telephone companies that offer services aimed at reducing the number of robocalls received by their subscribers to do so “at a reasonably affordable cost” in an attempt to reduce the number of robocalls received by residents of …
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