The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted to help shield people from unwanted telemarketers and scammers, the likes of which warn about fake tax problems or offer too-good-to-be-true vacation packages.
The agency, in a 5-0 bipartisan vote, authorized phone companies to automatically identify and block unwanted robocalls by using analytics, or other means, to identify sources of large bursts of calls or calls placed of brief durations. The authorization applies to landline and wireless telephone systems.
"If there is one thing in our country right now that unites Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, socialists and libertarians, vegetarians and carnivores, Ohio State and Michigan fans, it is that they are sick and tired of being bombarded by unwanted robocalls," FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said as the FCC prepared to vote. "We hear you, and we are on your side."
The measures are voluntary. Phone companies don't have to do anything, and, if they do, they could start charging customers -- just as they now charge for some caller-ID features and other extras. The FCC expects phone companies to offer the extras for free, but it doesn't require the service to be free.
Experts warn that callers professing bogus tax bills and insurance schemes might still find a way to get through. Calls originating from overseas could present a technical challenge.
The FCC's two Democrats said the call-blocking services should be offered for free.
"Robocall solutions should be free to consumers. Full stop," said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. "I do not think that this agency should pat itself on the back for its efforts to reduce robocalls and then tell consumers to pay up."
Pai believes phone companies will have an incentive to step up and offer the service for free. In an interview, Pai said robocalls "that are being placed on their own networks are a hassle and a cost for them [phone companies] to handle."
Commissioner Michael O'Rielly, a Republican, said he was concerned about "giving carriers such vast discretion to decide which calls are unwanted." That power could "lead to wanted calls containing highly pertinent consumer information being blocked," he said.
The goal is to blunt the crush of robocalls to landline and mobile phones. In May there were 4.7 billion such calls, and there have been roughly 25 billion in the U.S. so far this year, according to an estimate from YouMail, a closely held company that offers call-blocking. YouMail tallied 48 billion robocalls last year, up from 31 billion in 2017.
Robocalls are a top source of consumer complaints at the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission, which manages the national Do Not Call registry that prohibits some sales calls.
At the FTC, do-not-call complaints increased from 3.6 million in 2015 to 7.2 million in 2017 before dropping to 5.8 million in 2018. Each year, more than half of the calls prompting complaints were classified as robocalls.
Callers are supposed to get consent before telephoning landlines using a recorded or artificial voice, or before calling mobile phones with automatically dialed or artificial voice messages, according to the FCC.
The do-not-call rules don't apply to political organizations, pollsters and survey takers, according to the FCC.
The FCC's proposal would let phone companies block calls without first getting permission from customers. The order doesn't require companies to tell customers what numbers will be blocked. Companies would need to offer consumers enough information to decide whether to stay in or opt out, possibly by disclosing what types of calls would be blocked.
The agency said it wanted to dispel an impression that blocking calls would be a violation of its rules, which generally ensure that calls are completed.
Consumer Reports in an emailed statement said the FCC had taken "constructive steps."
"There is still much more work to be done -- including getting phone companies to implement anti-robocall technology, and ensuring that this service is provided to consumers free of charge," said Maureen Mahoney, policy analyst for Consumer Reports. "The FCC also needs to issue strong rules clarifying the Telephone Consumer Protection Act's coverage, to stop robocallers from attempting to evade it."
International-scam calls may present a challenge because foreign operators' equipment won't be as helpful in labeling calls as legitimate or not, said Alex Quilici, chief executive officer of YouMail.
"A lot of international calls, it's going to be difficult to tell -- is this spam, or a scam, or is it real?" he said.
Verizon Communications Inc. in a statement called the FCC vote "welcome news."
"We intend to take advantage of the new flexibility the FCC is giving us," Verizon Executive Vice President Ronan Dunne said in the statement.
AT&T did not answer questions about its plans but said it is committed to fighting illegal and unwanted calls. T-Mobile said it hasn't made a decision yet on whether to make default free call-blocking tools. Sprint, which charges for its call-blocking service, said last week that it was looking at "additional solutions" and was optimistic that the changes would let it "take more aggressive actions."
Phone companies may be reluctant to put in place aggressive call-blocking for fear of interfering with needed or wanted calls, said YouMail's Quilici. He raised the example of an improperly blocked call from a pharmacy.
"Grandma doesn't get her prescription and something bad happens to her -- that's catastrophic," Quilici said.
Information for this article was contributed by Todd Shields of Bloomberg News and Tali Arbel of The Associated Press.
A Section on 06/07/2019