Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, PRIVACY NEWS: Robocall strike force members agree to take steps sought by FCC chair, (Aug 22, 2016)

By Paul Kirby,TR Daily

Industry members of the Robocall Strike Force have pledged to take several steps sought by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler to tackle robocalls, the group’s chairman, AT&T, Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson, has said, adding that a report that the panel plans to deliver in 60 days "will include concrete plans to accelerate the development and adoption of … new tools as well as solutions, and to make recommendations to the FCC on the role government should play in this battle."

The beginning of the strike force’s first meeting on August 19 was open to the public and reporters and included remarks from Messrs. Stephenson and Wheeler, as well as Commissioners Mignon L. Clyburn and Ajit Pai, while the subsequent working session was closed even though it was held at the FCC’s headquarters.

"The Strike Force members, with the FCC as a resource, felt that a closed session would be the best choice for them to have a constructive working session to address these complicated and important issues," according to an FCC spokesperson.

The telecom industry, including wireless and wireline carriers, is responding to calls by Mr. Wheeler for more private-sector efforts to stop robocalls. Mr. Wheeler recently sent letters to major wireless and wireline service providers urging them to offer free call-blocking services to customers. He also called on industry entities to take other steps, which Mr. Stephenson announced on August 19 that strike force members have agreed to implement.

At Mr. Wheeler’s request, he said the industry entities will (1) "conform to VOIP caller ID verification standards as soon as they are made available by the standards setting groups and we … need to drive the standards-setting groups to accelerate our process"; (2) "adopt SS7 solutions associated with VOIP calls"; (3) "work together with the industry … to evaluate the feasibility of a ‘do-not-originate’ list"; (4) "further develop and implement solutions to detect, assess and stop unwanted calls from reaching the customers"; and (5) "facilitate efforts by other carriers to adopt call-blocking technologies on their networks."

Mr. Stephenson and the FCC Commissioners stressed that the 33-member strike force is composed of a wide variety of stakeholders from the industry ecosystem, including carriers, device makers, operating system developers, and network designers.

"The fact that you’re here speaks, I think, to the breadth as well as the complexity of the robocall problem," Mr. Stephenson told attendees. "And this is going to require more than individual company initiatives, and it’s going to have to go beyond one-off blocking applications to address this issue. Robocallers are … a formidable adversary, and they are notoriously hard to stop. And technology such as spoofing makes it easier for them to work around all of our various fixes and then to cover their tracks. And so far, we’ve been coming at this problem piecemeal, and I think we can demonstrate we’ve had very limited success, because these robocalls continue to increase and to grow.

"And so the strike force, we believe, is going to have to take a very different approach to addressing this issue. And we truly want to deal with this with the entire ecosystem working together," Mr. Stephenson added. "So what we’re going to have to do is come out of this session with a comprehensive playbook and then we go out and begin to execute."

The AT&T CEO also noted the range of robocalls that consumers receive.

"We have calls that are perfectly legal, but they’re not wanted, things like telemarketers and public opinion surveyors," he said. "But then, on the other end of the spectrum, we have millions of calls that are patently and blatantly illegal. And they’re violating do not call registries or, worse, they’re trying to steal identity or steal money."

"In parallel with the technological solutions, we’re going to need regulatory and law enforcement agencies to go after the bad actors," he added. "Shutting down the bad guys is a very important step in all of this, and it’s going to be a powerful example to others."

Mr. Stephenson said that the strike force has established several subcommittees to address various issues.

The strike force members are AT&T, Inc., Apple, Inc., the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions, Bandwidth.com, Inc., Blackberry Ltd., British Telecom, CenturyLink, Inc., Charter Communications, Inc., Cincinnati Bell, Inc., Comcast Corp., Consumers Union, Cox Communications, Inc., Ericsson, FairPoint Communications, Inc., Frontier Communications Corp., Google, Inc., Inteliquent, Inc., Level 3 Communications LLC, LG Electronics USA, Inc., Microsoft Corp., Nokia, Qualcomm, Inc., Samsung Electronics America, Inc., Silver Star, Sirius XM Radio, Inc., Sprint Corp., Syniverse Technologies LLC, T-Mobile US, Inc., United States Cellular Corp., Verizon Communications, Inc., West Corp., Windstream Communications, and X5 Solutions, Inc.

In his comments, Mr. Wheeler agreed about the need for the entire ecosystem to address the problem.

"It is significant that we have not just carriers, not just gateway providers, but also equipment and service providers here at this table because this is a challenge that is going to require everybody’s commitment," he said.

"Americans are fed up. Robocalls are a scourge. It’s the number one complaint that we hear from consumers on a daily basis," Mr. Wheeler added. "Over 200,000 calls a year into the FCC or into our web-based consumer assistance platform to talk about this problem and complain about how consumers are being abused. Americans have a right to be fed up with this scourge. It’s an invasion of privacy and it is ripe with fraud and identity theft. And the problem is that the bad guys are beating the good guys with technology right now."

Mr. Wheeler said that it’s "significant that the working groups are going to be meeting at least twice a week to keep to that schedule" of producing a report in 60 days.

"Let me be clear: This is an industry group. We believe in multistakeholder solutions, and when the whole ecosystem can come together, it can produce good results," the Chairman added. "But without results, we’ll be forced to look for other solutions because this scourge must stop. So let’s set some goals for 60 days hence."

He cited the need for "authentication standards for VoIP calls, including gateway verification as well as for TDM voice. We know that the standards bodies have been working on this… We need to come to conclusion… Let’s get to a solution."

He also said that tools are needed "to allow third parties to develop call-filtering options" and added that "there must be cross-carrier joint efforts to detect and stop the bad guys. Maybe it’s a ‘do-not-originate’ list. Maybe you’ll come up with better solutions."

He also asked the stakeholders to "tell us what regulators need to do to help you achieve those other three things."

He noted that the FCC last year issued a declaratory ruling and order that, among other things, gave wireline and wireless service providers the "green light" to deploy technology to block unwanted robocalls (TRDaily, June 18, 2015).

"As in any pressing challenge like this, perfect is the enemy of the good," Mr. Wheeler warned. "The nature of software, as you all know, is start and continually improve. Let’s have that philosophy here. Let’s not sit around and wait for the ultimate solution. Let’s start solving the issues immediately, and then let’s improve it tomorrow and make it even better the day after tomorrow."

Commissioner Clyburn also cited the huge number of complaints that the Commission gets from consumers about robocalls. "So we know that there’s a problem. We know how much consumers dislike these calls, and we know how frustrated the public is because they assume that after they registered for the do-not-call list, that all of this would stop. It did not. So now it is time to take more action."

Ms. Clyburn added that "we want to ensure that these solutions directly target the problem," and she added that she is "optimistic today that this is a beginning of a real conversation, that we will be able to deliver to consumers the change that they are clamoring for."

Mr. Pai called robocalls "awful. They are unwanted, they are intrusive." He also commended the industry for efforts it has taken so far to tackle the problem.

He listed several topics he said he hopes the strike force considers: (1) whether the FCC should urge Congress to pass anti-spoofing legislation; (2) whether the Enforcement Bureau should crack down harder on violators; (3) how the FCC can help consumers more easily report robocalls; (4) whether the Commission should adopt a safe harbor for carriers that want to offer call-blocking services; (5) whether a reassigned numbers database would be helpful; and (6) whether the FCC should repeal an order that created a robocalling exemption for federal contractors.

Consumers Union released a statement, saying it was generally pleased with the direction of the strike force.

"Consumers are sick and tired of robocalls and have made it clear that they expect the phone companies to take action," said Tim Marvin, manager of Consumers Union’s End Robocalls campaign. "The plan unveiled by the Strike Force today represents an important initial victory for consumers and a sign that the phone companies are taking more serious steps to protect their customers from unwanted calls. We’ll be monitoring the work of the Strike Force closely in the next 60 days to make sure they deliver on these promises."

However, the group said it would have liked Mr. Stephenson to mention the need for landline solutions.

"It’s critical that the Strike Force’s solutions address the needs of the most vulnerable consumers who still use landlines, and that the move forward towards standards be on the same timeline as the report," Mr. Marvin said. "Adoption of standards should not and cannot be a waiting game."

"While no robocall solution will be 100 percent effective, it’s clear that technology already exists to help reduce unwanted robocalls," added Mr. Marvin. "We agree with Chairman Wheeler that this joint industry effort shouldn't delay the phone companies from offering free call-blocking tools now. As the Strike Force works to improve industry efforts to combat unwanted calls, the phone companies should start offering their customers the best call-blocking protection currently available."

Companies: AT&T, Inc.; Apple, Inc.; Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions; Bandwidth.com, Inc.; Blackberry Ltd.; British Telecom; CenturyLink, Inc.; Charter Communications, Inc.; Cincinnati Bell, Inc.; Comcast Corp.; Consumers Union; Cox Communications, Inc.; Ericsson, FairPoint Communications, Inc.; Frontier Communications Corp.; Google, Inc.; Inteliquent, Inc.; Level 3 Communications LLC; LG Electronics USA, Inc.; Microsoft Corp.; Nokia; Qualcomm, Inc.; Samsung Electronics America, Inc.; Silver Star; Sirius XM Radio, Inc.; Sprint Corp.; Syniverse Technologies LLC; T-Mobile US, Inc.; United States Cellular Corp.; Verizon Communications, Inc.; West Corp.; Windstream Communication; X5 Solutions, Inc.

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