Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, PRIVACY NEWS: Sen. McCaskill asks USTelecom, CTIA for input on robocall filtering, (Aug 19, 2013)

By Brian Hammond,TR Daily

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) has asked the U.S. Telecom Association and CTIA for information on the possibility of implementing technology to filter out fraudulent "robocalls" and on proposed statutory changes designed to improve protections against such calls.

In a letter sent on August 16, Sen. McCaskill said robocalls are "not just a nuisance — according to the Justice Department, they are costing Americans more than $40 billion annually." Fraudulent robocalls are a "serious consumer abuse that needs to be tackled on multiple fronts," she wrote.

"America's telecommunications providers are not the problem. But if we are going to adequately address the consumer abuses by fraudulent robocalls, your member companies are going to have to be part of the solution," Sen. McCaskill wrote. "Since technology is what has allowed fraudulent robocalls to proliferate, we should be looking to technology to stop them."

Sen. McCaskill said representatives of the wireline and wireless industries expressed "skepticism" at a recent Senate hearing about the viability of anti-robocall technology. "By October 15, 2013, please provide me with a complete analysis of the challenges your industry foresees in implementing these types of technological solutions," she said. The analysis should include "full consideration of the barriers to implementation" that were raised at the hearing, along with "any other concerns that your industry has about implementing such technologies and any plans your industry has for adopting or testing such solutions."

Sen. McCaskill also asked for input on possible statutory changes suggested by officials from the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission. She asked for comment by September 9 on eliminating the FTC Act's common carrier exemption. In addition, Sen. McCaskill asked for input on possible changes to the FCC's enforcement authorities to allow it to impose a forfeiture on non-licensee robocall violators without first issuing a citation, to increase the maximum forfeiture for non-licensee robocallers, and to expand the statute of limitations from one year to at least two years.

Finally, Sen. McCaskill asked for input on possible revisions to the Trust-in-Caller-ID Act of 2011, including expanding the scope of the prohibition to persons outside the U.S. when their spoofing is directed at people inside the U.S., clarifying whether the restrictions should apply to voice-over-Internet-protocol (VoIP) providers that enable only outbound calls, and giving the FCC authority to regulate third-party spoofing services.

News: Privacy