FTC Throws Support Behind FCC’s Proposed Anti-Robocall Rule

July 3, 2017

The FTC is supporting the efforts of the FCC to expand the definition of what constitutes and illegal call and make life more difficult for telemarketers and robocall operators.

In comments sent to the FCC this week, the FTC said that a proposed rule that would allow the establishment of a broad Do Not Originate list of numbers that should never be allowed to make calls would help protect consumers from the barrage of robocalls they receive right now. The proposed FCC rule also would carriers to block calls at the network level when a subscriber who owns the a given number asks for that action. Right now, carriers are required to complete all calls on their networks…

May 30, 2017

Federal regulators are working on various methods to block robocalls, both to landlines and to mobile phones, with varying degrees of success. As those technologies make their way into the marketplace, some companies now are looking for clearance from the FCC to deliver their messages directly to customers’ voicemails without ringing their phones.

The commission is considering a petition from a company called All About the Message to “declare that the delivery of a voice message directly to a voicemail box does not constitute a call that is subject to the prohibitions on the use of an automatic telephone dialing system (‘ATDS’) or an artificial or prerecorded voice”. If the FCC approves the petition, it would mean that companies such as AATM would have the legal ability to push commercial or political messages to phone subscribers…