Robocalls are bothersome.
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Lawmakers are continuing their push to end robocalls.
On Wednesday, DemocraticSens Dianne Feinstein of California, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota presented the REAL PEACE Act, which would broaden the Federal Trade Commission’s authority to punish telecom business that assist in unlawful robocalls. (In case you’re questioning, the amusing acronym means “Robocall Elimination At Last Protecting Every American Consumer’s Ears.”)
“This bill would close an outdated loophole that enables scammers and spammers to make intrusive and illegal robocalls to millions of unsuspecting American households,” Blumenthal stated in a release. “The REAL PEACE Act will give long neglected enforcement authority to the FTC that allows them to more aggressively crack down on these calls and finally hold bad actors accountable.”
Telecom business have actually been mainly without FTC oversight due to the fact that they’re controlled by other federal government firms, such as the Federal CommunicationsCommission The REAL PEACE Act (PDF) would provide the FTC more authority to examine telecom business and services associated with robocalls.
“For several years, [FTC] has actually affirmed in favor of getting rid of the typical provider exemption,” a FTC representative indicated the commission’s testament on personal privacy prior to the Senate CommerceCommittee “It hampers the FTC’s work taking on unlawful robocalls and more broadly circumscribes other enforcement efforts. The exemption might [also] annoy the Commission’s capability to get total relief for customers when there are numerous celebrations, a few of whom prevail providers.”
The FCC is likewise attempting to punish unlawful robocalls. Last week, the company stated it prepares to develop a database that organizations can inspect to make certain the numbers they have actually been permitted to call have not been reassigned to other individuals. The FCC likewise wishes to provide cordless providers more versatility to obstruct spam text.
Earlier this month, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai corresponded to the heads of AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, Google and others, asking to embrace a call-authentication system by next year that would fight unlawful caller ID spoofing.
The FTC got over 4.5 million robocall problems in 2015, according to the Blumenthal’s release.
First released onNov 29, 11: 29 am PT.
Updates, 1: 37 pm PT: Adds FTC’s reaction.
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