Collins’ efforts result in FCC ruling to allow blocked robocalls

A bipartisan letter sent last month by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) helped sway the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to approve a proposed rule allowing voice service carriers to block unauthenticated calls, also known as robocalls.

Sen. Collins and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) sent a May 22 letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai asking him to stop “the scourge of illegal robocalls.”

“The American people are tired of having scammers ring their phones off the hook and they want these calls stopped,” Sen. Collins and her colleague wrote.

Specifically, the FCC on June 6 passed a Declaratory Ruling to affirm that voice service providers may, as the default, block unwanted calls based on reasonable call analytics as long as their customers are informed and have the opportunity to opt out of the blocking, according to the commission.

Scammers rely on robocalls to reach victims and they regularly “spoof” victims’ caller IDs to make it seem as if they are calling from a legitimate entity, according to information provided by Sen. Collins’ office.

“Experience shows that scammers are ruthless and clever at targeting their victims and will likely continue their efforts to find even more ways to skirt the rules,” according to the senators’ letter.

In fact, according to their letter, the problem has been worsening. The Federal Trade Commission in 2018, for instance, “logged an incredible 3.8 billion robocall complaints and this year industry sources estimate that nearly half of all mobile calls will be fraudulent.”

The FCC said last week that its ruling also clarifies that providers may offer their customers the choice to opt-in to tools that block calls from any number that does not appear on a customer’s contact list.