Schumer Joins Democratic Opposition to AATM's Withdrawn 'Ringless' Voicemails TCPA Petition

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., urged the FCC Sunday to reject bids to allow voice messages that go directly to a voicemail box, also known as “ringless” voicemails, under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. “With billions of robocalls made to cellphones each year, the feds should be doing more to rein in annoying telemarketers, not throw gas on the problem and add fuel to cellphone spam,” Schumer said in a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Schumer responded to a now-withdrawn petition from All About the Message for a declaratory ruling that ringless voicemail doesn’t constitute a call under TCPA (see 1704180037 and 1706230063). The petition got support from the Republican National Committee and opposition from groups of House and Senate Democrats (see 1706150053 and 1706160057). Ringless voicemails “may be quieter than what we traditionally think of as cellphone spam” but “are no less intrusive or annoying to consumers,” Schumer said.