Supplemental comments from ACA and coalition partners ask for deadlines on changes to call authentication and network updates.
01/27/2023 12:05 P.M.
3 minute read
ACA International and coalition partners continue to support updates to the Federal Communications Commission’s call authentication framework that ensure legitimate calls are getting through, as noted in supplemental comments (PDF) to the FCC on call authentication solutions.
The FCC extended its comment request on the plan after ACA and its coalition partners ensured the standards will reflect concerns from callers and the impact they will have on callers, ACA previously reported.
The FCC sought more focused input on caller ID authentication technology for non-IP networks and how best to address the remaining gap in the FCC’s caller ID authentication plans.
Non-IP networks essentially don’t have the tools to accommodate the STIR/SHAKEN call authentication framework as required under the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act passed to mitigate illegal and unwanted robocalls.
What happens if a network used by a voice service provider can’t support caller ID authentication? The provider needs to switch networks or come up with a comparable technology that can be used on a non-IP network, which was at the center of the FCC’s comment request.
Now that the first round of comments is closed, industry stakeholders had the opportunity to file reply comments responding to other groups and advancing advocacy on behalf of ACA members and the accounts receivable management (ARM) industry.
ACA and its coalition partners, the American Bankers Association, American Financial Services Association, Credit Union National Association, Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions, National Council of Higher Education Resources, and the Student Loan Servicing Alliance, strongly support the FCC’s efforts to implement caller ID authentication solutions on non-IP networks to further prevent legitimate calls from being blocked.
The associations’ opening comments (PDF) filed in December urged the FCC to require operators of non-IP networks to adopt a solution that enables them to authenticate caller ID and to transmit that information from the call’s origination to its delivery to the recipient as soon as practicable.
“Since passage of the TRACED Act, the [c]ommission has provided an exemption from its call authentication requirements for non-IP networks. Because of the availability of call authentication solutions for non-IP networks, the associations respectfully request that the [c]ommission terminate the STIR/SHAKEN exemption for non-IP networks by a date certain,” the associations state in supplemental comments.
Additionally, there should be a date set for ending the non-IP network exemption and a deadline for non-IP network operators to either upgrade to IP or implement an alternative solution, which ACA and its coalition partners and other commenters noted to the FCC.
More Resources
Call authentication was discussed on the Jan. 25 ACA Huddle for members, accessible on ACA’s website. A recording will be available.
Panelists Michael H. Pryor, shareholder at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP, and Ricky Fernandez, senior sales director at Caller ID Reputation, discussed the FCC’s statute mandating that voice service providers take “reasonable measures” to implement an effective caller ID authentication framework in non-IP networks and explore evidence showing that the presence of non-IP networks is substantially undermining the STIR/SHAKEN framework.
They also shared industry solutions to address the remaining gap in the FCC’s caller ID authentication plans and discuss how to ensure that legitimate callers receive the highest form of attestation available.
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