Bipartisan 'Stopping Bad Robocalls Act' emerges at US House

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
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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.

iPhone scammer


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.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 22
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Re: “Bad” Robocalls... they don’t think their political ads are “bad,” so naturally they will exclude their own interests and continue to harass voters in that way.
    dysamoriachasm1STnTENDERBITSmobirdrandominternetpersonralphie
  • Reply 2 of 22
    JWSCJWSC Posts: 1,203member

    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.

    zroger73StrangeDays
  • Reply 3 of 22
    arlorarlor Posts: 532member
    SpamSandwich said:
    Re: “Bad” Robocalls... they don’t think their political ads are “bad,” so naturally they will exclude their own interests and continue to harass voters in that way.
    I get about 500 calls from "the Social Security Administration" or "your financial institution" for every one from a politician, even though I live in Iowa, so I'm more than happy to take the bill with that exception if that's what's on offer. 
    dysamorialeftoverbaconflyingdpcincytee
  • Reply 4 of 22
    retrogustoretrogusto Posts: 1,111member
    Yeah, I was wondering about the redundant “bad robocalls” wording until I remembered that politicians are among the worst offenders. That’s probably why nothing was done about this nuisance sooner. 
    dysamoriaSpamSandwich
  • Reply 5 of 22
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    “Bad” robocalls? ALL robocalls are bad. Period. I don’t care what “legitimate” use someone claims they have, if an entity cannot be bothered to try to reach me with a human, or if they can’t be bothered to have the human do the damn calling (not robocalling me and then they answer their phone with “hello?” after I’ve already answered with “hello?”), then they’re not worth my time answering.

    Human, with a human dialer, or go straight to null.
  • Reply 6 of 22
    jimh2jimh2 Posts: 617member
    We'll never see opt-out by default in the US. We'll always be stuck with political calls even though no one wants them. iOS13 will fix most of the problem as if a number is not in the address book it won't ring. The bigger problem is spoofing caller ID. I've seen my home number spoofed as if I was calling it myself.
    beowulfschmidt
  • Reply 7 of 22
    LordeHawkLordeHawk Posts: 168member
    I didn’t realize political robo calls were that bad.  I’ve only had 2 in the past 2 years.

    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!
    osmartormenajrgenovelle
  • Reply 8 of 22
    osmartormenajrosmartormenajr Posts: 287member
    I think John Oliver got to them, with that piece he had run a couple months ago. Smart money says it was the robocal his technical staff set up to call the FCC chair every 90 minutes.
    chasmLordeHawkSolip-dog
  • Reply 9 of 22
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,303member
    Expect pushback on this (or watering down of the proposal) from corrupt Ajit Pai.
    p-dog
  • Reply 10 of 22
    acheron2018acheron2018 Posts: 33member
    If the government worked for the people instead of against us they would just make telemarking a federal felony - basically along the model of mail fraud.  

    About the time time you start locking people up for years in prison the problem will stop.  

    Until then everything else is just noise.  
    StrangeDays
  • Reply 11 of 22
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,879member
    I get them usually every day. They suck.
  • Reply 12 of 22
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    I use an alternative, internet phone number accessed via an app (or webpage) so I rarely get directed robo and spam calls. I still get a couple a week, but it became even less of an issue with iOS 13's automatic push to VM for numbers not in my contacts. I'm sure this will be an issue until this feature becomes more well known so people learn that they have to leave a message if they're calling from a number that might not be in their contacts.
  • Reply 13 of 22
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    chasm said:
    Expect pushback on this (or watering down of the proposal) from corrupt Ajit Pai.
    Corrupt in which way? Because he threw out the prior administration’s completely intrusive “Net Neutrality”? It was the right thing to do.
  • Reply 14 of 22
    montrosemacsmontrosemacs Posts: 118member
    SpamSandwich said:
    chasm said:
    Expect pushback on this (or watering down of the proposal) from corrupt Ajit Pai.
    Corrupt in which way? Because he threw out the prior administration’s completely intrusive “Net Neutrality”? It was the right thing to do.
    Ajit - bought & paid for by TelCom industry, everybody's best friend. But a great guy in your book because, prior administration. 
    Soli
  • Reply 15 of 22
    spice-boyspice-boy Posts: 1,450member
    I get up to 10 per day, and I am sure everyone in Congress gets them each day as well so why such a pathetic response to such an abusive attack on our collective quality of life? The answer can only be enough of our representatives are getting campaign donations from these tele-marketers for them to put an end to them. 
  • Reply 16 of 22
    randominternetpersonrandominternetperson Posts: 3,089member
    It this act supposed to be pronounced like the hummus?


    SpamSandwich
  • Reply 17 of 22
    jeffythequickjeffythequick Posts: 269member
    arlor said:
    SpamSandwich said:
    Re: “Bad” Robocalls... they don’t think their political ads are “bad,” so naturally they will exclude their own interests and continue to harass voters in that way.
    I get about 500 calls from "the Social Security Administration" or "your financial institution" for every one from a politician, even though I live in Iowa, so I'm more than happy to take the bill with that exception if that's what's on offer. 
    ...along with the diabetic testing supply people, the back brace people, Microsoft (who is checking on the security of my Windows Computer - I led them on an 8 minute wild goose chase on that one... their .exe program wouldn't open on my Mac), the IRS, 

    Ha!  as I'm typing this, my friend, "Scam Likely" is calling!

    A dollar a call would be awesome!  Let's do that for SPAM e-mail too!  Heck, I'll split it with the government, 90/10.  They get a dime for every spam e-mail I get!
  • Reply 18 of 22
    jeffythequickjeffythequick Posts: 269member
    StrangeDays said:
    I get them usually every day. They suck.


    My kids and I have fun with them...
    When the "Medical" people call, I respond with an act that I'm on the way to the hospital, and if they can meet us at the back door.  My daughter has gotten in on it with her "My head hanging on by just the sinew!  Please help me!"

    (As stated above) the computer repair people, I follow their instructions in a Linux VM to download whatever they want me to, and I complain that it "must be really bad," because Linux isn't running my Windows Executable.

    I have sang, "Take me off your list" (the only lyrics to the song) to them.  We time it to see how long I can last before one of us hangs up.

    The best one is when I was screaming at the guy (to the chagrin of adjacent traffic) (I was calm, just yelling at the top of my lungs), and the guy ("Roger", in an Indian accent), said, "Dude, you need to chill out."  I broke out laughing.
    the monk
  • Reply 19 of 22
    the monkthe monk Posts: 93member
    dysamoria said:
    if an entity cannot be bothered to try to reach me with a human, or if they can’t be bothered to have the human do the damn calling (not robocalling me and then they answer their phone with “hello?” after I’ve already answered with “hello?”), then they’re not worth my time answering.

    Human, with a human dialer, or go straight to null.
    If you’re wondering how AI is going to affect our employment and our way of life, robocalls are a prehistoric sneak peak.
  • Reply 20 of 22
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    the monk said:
    dysamoria said:
    if an entity cannot be bothered to try to reach me with a human, or if they can’t be bothered to have the human do the damn calling (not robocalling me and then they answer their phone with “hello?” after I’ve already answered with “hello?”), then they’re not worth my time answering.

    Human, with a human dialer, or go straight to null.
    If you’re wondering how AI is going to affect our employment and our way of life, robocalls are a prehistoric sneak peak.

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