Cybersecurity Policy Report, FCC Advisory Board Adopts Robocall Recommendations, (Sep 25, 2024)
Organizations Mentioned:UnidosUS
By Jeff Williams
The FCC’s Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC) yesterday approved a report and 16 recommendations from its technical working group and outreach and education working group related to the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the Commission’s efforts to fight unwanted robocalls and robotexts.
John Breyault, co-chair of the CAC and vice president–public policy, telecommunications, and fraud at the National Consumers League, detailed nine recommendations from the working group on technical issues, including that the FCC partner with other agencies and the White House to “ensure that there is a comprehensive solution across all agencies that helps prevent AI from being used for malicious calling purposes.”
Another recommendation calls for the FCC to “explicitly declare” that any call using an AI-generated voice “with the intent to defraud, harm, or deceive the recipient always violates” the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, “as no reasonable consumer would knowingly consent to such a call made with an artificial voice.”
The agency should consider launching a “workshop, showcase, or other initiative to encourage voice service providers, analytics providers, and other stakeholders to develop, demonstrate, and implement AI detection and mitigation technologies to block calls identified as likely to contain AI voice cloning,” the working group said.
The FCC should also “continue to support voice providers’ deployment of current and additional tools and processes to identify, block, label (as appropriate), and otherwise mitigate illegal and unwanted calls and texts, including any such calls and texts that AI-generated,” while ensuring there are “appropriate redress mechanisms for legitimate callers,” it said.
The recommendations also included that as the Commission evaluates the benefits of call detection and alerting technologies that monitor the content of calls, it should consider how those technologies could affect privacy rights.
The working group also urged the Commission to consider periodically seeking comment to update the “state of AI-generated robocall and robotext threat environment and the technologies being used or developed to address these threats.”
The agency should also consider how collaboration among voice service providers, app developers, handset manufacturers, and others can be used to develop tools that “help identify and combat AI used for malicious calling purposes,” the working group said.
The working group also recommended the FCC charter a future advisory committee, to develop a report on the implementation of AI by industry stakeholders and others to help consumers avoid unwanted robocalls and robotexts.
The Commission should also “take steps within its authority to ensure that its robocall regulations do not deter development and use of AI-powered tools that enable people with disabilities to better use the telephone network.”
Claudia Ruiz, CAC co-chair and senior policy analyst–civil rights at UnidosUS, said the recommendations developed by the working group on outreach and education included that the Commission “create a national public education and engagement effort based on a ‘3R’ response to empower consumers to recognize, react, and report appropriately and safely when an unwanted or malicious robocall or robotext is received.”
The working group also recommended that the Commission partner with organizations with “ties to underserved and hard-to-reach communities” to develop that campaign, which should include “modular content easily adapted for different languages, cultural contexts, and specific vulnerability profiles.”
The Commission should also design a “multi-channel and multi-modal campaign dissemination plan” to ensure the educational effort has a broad reach, she said.
The recommendations also include that the agency “establish and maintain” partnerships with community anchor institutions and organizations with “strong community and grassroots ties” to support the campaign.
The working group also suggested that the Commission “develop a ‘train the trainers’ model to grow community capacity and resilience to safely and appropriately respond to and report unwanted AI-generated robocalls and robotexts” and “integrate an AI robocall and robotext education campaign with broadband access and literacy initiatives.”
The FCC should also “expand and further promote” its Consumer Inquiries and Complaints Center, the working group recommended.
News: FederalLegislation DataPrivacy