In column for the Washington Times, opinion contributor Jared Whitley shares the importance of the FCC’s enforcement actions.
6/10/2020 9:00
Before the Federal Communications Commission issued one its largest proposed fines for alleged illegal robocalls this week, opinion columnist Jared Whitley outlined the importance of these enforcement actions in an article for the Washington Times titled, “FCC Cracks Down on Illegal Robocalls.”
Whitley, who served as associate director in the White House under George W. Bush and as press liaison for U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, focuses on why the Telephone Consumer Protection Act needs to be modernized.
“My smart phone is so smart that on the rare occasions that I do get an actual phone call, it alerts me with the message ‘scam likely’ to keep telemarketers off my back. It’s not perfect in differentiating all telemarketers from legitimate business calls, neither is the federal government,” Whitley writes.
Whitley notes actions by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to productively fight against “fraudsters, scammers and others who place illegal automated calls” and other hefty fines in addition to the recent investigation into illegal robocalls by health insurance telemarketers in Texas covered by ACA International here.
However, the important divide between stopping illegal calls through programs such as the SHAKEN/STIR call authentication framework without legitimate calls being caught in the mix continues.
Whitley concludes, “Mr. Pai and the FCC deserve a round of applause for reducing the number of illegal calls consumers receive, but they need to be sure to avoid painting with too broad a brush. Now is the time to modernize TCPA to make it easier for consumers to receive calls and texts from the companies they use.
Alas because of the FCC’s interpretations of a 1990s-era law intended to stop abusive telemarketing — the aforementioned TCPA — legitimate businesses are struggling to place important, and often time-sensitive, calls to customers. Notifications about potential fraud, reminders about prescriptions and customer service calls are getting caught in the TCPA trap.”
For more information on how the ACA Licensing staff can assist with your licensing needs, please contact us at [email protected] or call (952) 926-6547.