FCC to Publish Consumer Complaint Details to Deter Robocalls

To better crack down on unwanted robocalls and telemarketers, the Federal Communications Commission says it's going to publish the details of consumer complaints. The data will be used by phone companies to develop automated blocking services that can actively identify telemarketers and prevent them from ever reaching you in the first place.

And it's fairly granular: The first data dump from the FCC includes information such as the phone number that originated the call, and the state in which it took place, as well as the kind of message the recipient got. Over time, these self-reported call records should help carriers pinpoint the source of annoying (and illegal) callers. Which means that if you get an unwanted junk call, you should definitely think about reporting it. Because now you have concrete proof that your complaint is being heard.