Robocalls Remain Top Issue Facing Enforcement Bureau, FCBA Told

Clamping down on unwanted and illegal robocalls remains the top priority of the FCC Enforcement Bureau, bureau officials said during an FCBA webinar Tuesday. “The top priority is robocall, robocall, robocall, robocall,” said Kristi Thompson, chief of the Telecommunications Consumers Division. That’s “not surprising” because unwanted calls “have been the top of the pop charts on the FCC’s compliance databases for several years running now,” she said. “Because it is such a hot consumer issue it’s also one that is politically neutral and therefore bipartisan,” she said. A “collective hatred for all things robocalls and our desire to see more and more done against them” unites Americans, Thompson said. Her division also spends a lot of time on privacy and data security, she said. “I sort of read with dread headlines today suggesting that Russia was talking about increasing cyberattacks” on U.S. infrastructure, she said: “For me, communications networks … seem like a prime target.” The Fraud Division is looking into allegations of fraud in the emergency broadband benefit program, said Chief Rakesh Patel. USF programs are always a focus, he said. The amounts of dollars involved can “be quite significant,” he said. “Where ever the commission’s focus is at any given point in time the Enforcement Bureau tends to follow,” said Jeffrey Gee, chief of the Investigations and Hearings Division.