Wireless Industry, Consumer Advocates Clash on Need for FCC Robotext Rules

Consumer and public interest groups want the FCC to get more aggressive in clamping down on illegal and unwanted robotexts to consumers, according to comments on a March Further NPRM (see 2303160061). CTIA said robotexts and robocalls are inherently different, and extending the same rules to both doesn’t make sense. USTelecom said the FCC could take some steps but should proceed with caution. Comments were due Monday in docket 21-402.

“The Commission needs to act forcefully to stop the unrelenting onslaught of illegal calls and unwanted texts to American telephones,” said a filing by the consumer groups. “We urge the Commission to implement a system-wide solution to the growing problem of scam texts due to their exponential growth, and not rely on individual enforcement efforts to control these scams. Unless this matter is addressed thoroughly, the trust that the texting platform currently enjoys will be squandered.”

Among the things the FCC should do is block all traffic from upstream providers who ignore illegal traffic notifications and from unregistered text campaigns containing active hyperlinks, the consumer groups said. Work with other agencies like the FTC to “identify and shut down the websites that malicious URLs point to,” they advised: Codify that FCC do-not-call rules also apply to text messages. The filing was signed by the National Consumer Law Center, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Public Knowledge, Public Citizen and the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates.

“Problems underlying text spam are different from those that underlie robocalls and demand different solutions,” CTIA said: “Proposals in the FNPRM, which are drawn from the robocall environment, would do little to enhance existing industry efforts to reduce text spam or protect consumers.” The FCC shouldn’t extend obligations on gateway voice service providers to investigate and block illegal robocall traffic based on notice from the commission to terminating wireless providers, CTIA said. “Terminating wireless providers’ role in the messaging space is very different from the role of gateway voice service providers, and the policy rationale for the rule in the robocall context does not apply in the messaging ecosystem,” the group said.

“The tide is turning against illegal robocallers and their enabling voice service providers,” USTelecom reassured the FCC. But the group counseled against adding explicit language to its rules on obtaining written consent before making robocalls. “Lead generation robocalls” based on “flimsy claims of consent” are now more common than fraudulent robocalls, USTelecom said. “USTelecom supports clear and decisive Commission action to eliminate any perceived loopholes in its rules that allow lead generators and other telemarketers to deliver scores of unwanted robocalls to consumers,” the group said: “Do so through declaration rather than a rule change, as the Commission’s existing rules already are best read to prohibit current lead generator abuses.”

The Messaging Malware Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group (M3AAWG) called for explicit consent rules. The rules should “prohibit messaging that goes beyond explicitly named senders or the scope of the original consent,” M3AAWG said. The group also urged the FCC to extend do-not-call rules to cover texts. Rules requiring terminating wireless carriers to investigate and potentially block illegal text messages when they get a notice of potential problems, would do little good, the group said: “Phone numbers, internet domains and/or message text may differ from message to message, and many attacks last less than one minute. By the time a notice is issued to block specific content and/or numbers and a wireless provider’s mandated analysis and investigation is completed by a carrier, it is already too late.”

The Professional Associations for Customer Engagement (PACE), which represents major companies in their campaigns to reach customers, said the rules proposed by the FCC for robotexts would do little good. “Most of the non-compliant conduct that the FCC and PACE members are seeking to address originates from scofflaw actors -- many from outside the US -- who have no intention of being constrained by rules no matter their actual substance,” PACE said. The FCC’s proposals on consent record requirements “would not move the needle in stopping these actors,” the group said.