FCC Ready to Regulate if Industry Work on Robocalls Falls Flat, Wheeler Says

The FCC wants real industry progress on curbing robocalls and isn’t afraid to step in if its new industry-led Robocall Strike Force falters, Chairman Tom Wheeler said Friday as he opened the group's first meeting at commission headquarters. The agency expects recommendations by Oct. 19, Wheeler said. The “bad guys” are beating industry on technology because they have a profit motive to do so, he said. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, chairing the group, said robocallers are a “formidable” foe and the problem is complex.

The committee needs to move with urgency, Wheeler said. “Let me be clear. This is an industry group; we believe in multistakeholder solutions,” he said. “Without results, we’ll be forced to look for other solutions, because this scourge must stop.”

Americans are “fed up” with robocalls, Wheeler said. “It's the No. 1 complaint that we hear from consumers on a daily basis.” The FCC fields more than 200,000 complaints a year on robocalls, he said. “It’s an invasion of privacy and it is ripe with fraud and identity theft.” The strike force includes all the right people to get the job done, Wheeler said. “It is significant that we have not just carriers, not just gateway providers, but also equipment and service providers here at this table because this is a challenge that is going to require everybody's commitment.”

Wheeler urged participants to focus on authentication standards for VoIP calls, including gateway verification standards. “Standards bodies have been working on this and working on this,” he said. “Let’s get to a solution.” The strike force also must focus on call-filtering technologies, starting with open application programming interfaces, he said. There must be cooperation among carriers on detecting and stopping robocalls from the “bad guys,” Wheeler said. “Maybe it’s a do-not-originate list, maybe you’ll come up with better solutions,” he said. “This has to be something that has to be multi-carrier, cross-carrier and a community solution.” The FCC stands ready to act if industry needs help, Wheeler said. “We’ve already said that there’s nothing in the rules that prohibits carriers from offering call-blocking, but if we need to do more, tell us where.”

The willingness of 33 companies and organizations to participate, on short notice, shows industry takes the problem seriously, Stephenson said: “This is going to require more than individual company initiatives and it's going to have to go beyond one-off blocking applications to address this issue.”

Robocallers are “notoriously hard to stop,” Stephenson said. “Technology such as spoofing makes it easier for them to work around all of our various fixes and then to cover their tracks.” A piecemeal approach hasn’t worked because the number of robocalls continues to grow, he said. The FCC and Congress will have roles to play and the commission and law enforcement agencies will need to target bad actors, he said. “A lot of people like to portray this as a simple issue to address and I think we all understand that it’s not,” Stephenson said. “We have calls that are perfectly legal, but they’re not wanted,” while millions of calls are illegal, he said.

Consumers Union criticized Stephenson for not going far enough. Phone scams cost U.S. consumers an estimated $350 million yearly, CU said. “Absent from Stephenson’s public commitment were measures specifically called for by Chairman Wheeler, including solutions for traditional landlines and the need for fast publication of applicable standards,” the group said in a news release. “It’s critical that the Strike Force’s solutions address the needs of the most vulnerable consumers who still use landlines, and that the move forward towards standards be on the same timeline as the report. Adoption of standards should not and cannot be a waiting game.”

Commissioner Mignon Clyburn addressed her comments to consumers. “The commission has heard loud and clear from you, and thousands like you, that consumers hate robocalls,” she said. “We know there is a problem. We know how much consumers dislike these calls. We know the public is frustrated.”

Commissioner Ajit Pai said he also understands why consumers hate unwanted robocalls. The strike force should focus on whether legislation like the bipartisan Anti-Spoofing Act of 2015 (HR-2669) would help, Pai said. “Should the FCC take more enforcement actions against unscrupulous telemarketers and known robocallers, given the tens of thousands of complaints we receive from consumers each month?” he asked. “How can we make it easier for consumers to tell us about robocalls they receive and make it easier for the Enforcement Bureau to track down and shut down fraudulent robocallers?” The group also should look at the potential benefits of carving out a safe harbor for phone companies that provide call-blocking services to their customers and whether that would encourage experimentation, Pai said.