FCC to Consider Domestic Violence, Digital Discrimination Rules in Nov. Meeting

The FCC will take additional steps during its Nov. 15 open meeting to provide survivors of domestic violence with safe and affordable access to communications services, wrote Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a Tuesday note. Other items on the agenda include the adoption of digital discrimination rules (see 2310240008), the use of AI in fighting robocalls, SIM swap and port-out fraud, and amateur radio.

"We’re empowering survivors of domestic violence," Rosenworcel said. She initially announced the draft order during the National Conference on Domestic Violence (see 2310230044). If adopted, the proposed rules would "help survivors separate service lines from accounts that include their abusers, protect the privacy of calls made by survivors to domestic abuse hotlines, and support survivors who suffer from financial hardship."

Rosenworcel clarified that a notice of inquiry on ways to use AI and machine learning to help identify fraud in robocalls and robotexts will be on the meeting agenda. Rosenworcel unveiled the proposal Monday (see 2310230049).

“We’re exploring the implications of AI for robocalls and robotexts,” Rosenworcel said: AI “technologies can generate automated voice calls and text messages, while also enabling tools to help filter out sophisticated spam and phishing schemes that cost Americans millions each year.” The NOI will look at “how best to seize the opportunities of AI regarding robocalls and robotexts, while mitigating the harms,” she said.

Also on the agenda is an order on SIM swap and port-out fraud following up a notice last year (see 2111160036) and one of the focuses of the FCC’s Privacy and Data Protection Task Force launched in June (see 2306140075).

“The Commission will vote on rules to crack down on scammers who take over victims’ cell phone accounts by covertly swapping SIM cards to a new device or porting phone numbers to a new carrier,” Rosenworcel said. If adopted, the new task force “will take the lead in closing the loophole that leaves consumers open to this kind of fraud,” she said.

The FCC also is “bolstering amateur radio,” Rosenworcel said. “We will vote on a proposal to incentivize innovation and experimentation in the amateur radio bands by removing outdated restrictions and providing licensees with the flexibility to use modern digital emissions,” she said.

Commissioners will also consider three Enforcement Bureau items, Rosenworcel said.

Her note didn’t list any action on the 2018 quadrennial review, which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordered the FCC to complete by Dec. 27 or present evidence why it hasn’t done so (see 2309280091). An industry attorney told us that likely means a QR item won’t happen until December but conceded the agency isn't required to vote on the QR item at a commissioners' meeting.