Telecommunication

I was particularly encouraged to see that 40 state attorneys general formed a bipartisan Robocall Technologies Working Group. I recently shared with my colleagues my proposal to allow phone companies to establish callblocking services as a default setting for consumers. In addition, carriers would be allowed to offer consumers the option of using their own contact list as a “white list.” Now, my proposals on call-blocking by default and a white list are part of what’s called a Declaratory Ruling.

The Federal Communications Commission published a draft Order in the “Advanced Methods to Target and Eliminate Unlawful Robocalls” proceeding. On June 6, the FCC will vote on a Declaratory Ruling and Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking from this proceeding to enable carriers to block robocalls.

Speaking in defense of credit and collection professionals probably isn’t the politically savviest or safest move.  I am here to join with [ACA International] as your members continue to face untenable legal risk and uncertainty in your efforts to reach out to borrowers. Now, more than ever, it’s crucial that we get the rulemaking done, and ensure that honest businesses can call their customers without being threatened by bankruptcy. Repeat after me: “robocall” is not a bad word.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the items below are tentatively on the agenda for the June Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, June 6, 2019:

Amid a deepening trade war with China, President Donald Trump declared a “national emergency” to protect US communications networks in a move that gives the federal government broad powers to bar American companies from doing business with certain foreign suppliers — including the Chinese firm Huawei. President Trump declared the emergency in the form of an executive order that says foreign adversaries are exploiting vulnerabilities in US telecommunications technology and services. It points to economic and industrial espionage as areas of particular concern.

As expected, the Democratic leaders on the House Communications Subcommittee used the Federal Communications Commission oversight hearing to hammer FCC Chairman Ajit Pai over policies and actions with which they strongly disagree. In his opening statement, Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA) said Chairman Pai had yet to explain to Congress or the American people what it was doing about mobile carriers sharing real-time geolocation data. He also slammed the inaccurate and deeply flawed broadband deployment data, old and faulty business broadband data, and warned the FCC not to act on a USTelecom forb

The Federal Communications Commission has proposed a package of fatally flawed plans that would fundamentally undercut Lifeline. May 15's FCC oversight hearing is an opportunity for Congress to hold the agency accountable for its disastrous proposals. 

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai is proposing bold action to help consumers block unwanted robocalls. He has circulated a declaratory ruling that, if adopted, would allow phone companies to block unwanted calls to their customers by default. In addition, companies could allow consumers to block calls not on their own contact list.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced another significant step in ensuring implementation of more reliable caller ID information to combat malicious spoofed robocalls. Chairman Pai expects major phone companies to implement SHAKEN/STIR caller ID authentication standards in 2019, and he will host a summit on July 11, 2019 to examine industry’s progress toward meeting this deadline. The summit will also identify any challenges to deployment of the SHAKEN/STIR framework and discuss how best to overcome them.