Bipartisan 'Stopping Bad Robocalls Act' emerges at US House
The Democratic and Republican leaders of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee have introduced a new compromise bill, the "Stopping Bad Robocalls Act," joining other government efforts to halt the tide of unwanted spam calls.
The Act would require the Federal Communications Commission to update its definiton of a robocall, which could force more businesses to obtain consent, the Washington Post said on Thursday. It would also demand that wireless carriers begin implementing call authentication standards like STIR/SHAKEN, though they would have up to a year and a half to comply if the Act passes, and the FCC would be asked to determine alternate options for rural carriers that have cost or technical barriers.
Critically the legislation is also meant to make it easier to investigate and enforce rules, a common complaint about the status quo.
In May the Senate voted 97-1 to move ahead with a similar bill, the TRACED Act. TRACED, however, wouldn't require any redefinition of robocalls or consent.
The Stopping Bad Robocalls Act is slated for an early panel vote next week.
Even if the House and Senate fail to create merged legislation, the FCC did issue an order earlier in June allowing carriers to enable spam-blocking services by default. For the moment companies can charge fees for those services if they like, but House lawmakers have proposed nixing them.
The Act would require the Federal Communications Commission to update its definiton of a robocall, which could force more businesses to obtain consent, the Washington Post said on Thursday. It would also demand that wireless carriers begin implementing call authentication standards like STIR/SHAKEN, though they would have up to a year and a half to comply if the Act passes, and the FCC would be asked to determine alternate options for rural carriers that have cost or technical barriers.
Critically the legislation is also meant to make it easier to investigate and enforce rules, a common complaint about the status quo.
In May the Senate voted 97-1 to move ahead with a similar bill, the TRACED Act. TRACED, however, wouldn't require any redefinition of robocalls or consent.
The Stopping Bad Robocalls Act is slated for an early panel vote next week.
Even if the House and Senate fail to create merged legislation, the FCC did issue an order earlier in June allowing carriers to enable spam-blocking services by default. For the moment companies can charge fees for those services if they like, but House lawmakers have proposed nixing them.
Comments
So, the charging a fee part is interesting. I’ll be happy to take robocalls if every time I answer I get a dollar from the caller. Let’s see how long that lasts.
Human, with a human dialer, or go straight to null.
I get recording based robo calls all the time for things that don’t apply, student loans, credit card debt, car warranty expiration, free vacations, health insurance, etc.
Apple, please allow Siri to take my phone calls not in contacts and keep them busy for an hour or 2. I would pay for that!
About the time time you start locking people up for years in prison the problem will stop.
Until then everything else is just noise.