McCaskill to Nation’s Top Telecom Companies: After Years of Inaction & Empty Promises, Prove You’re Taking ‘aggressive action’ to Block Unwanted Robocalls

“Three years and billions of unwanted robocalls later, consumers have realized virtually no benefit” – Senator demands phone companies show concrete results of action to combat robocalls

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today continued her fight to protect consumers from unwanted robocalls by calling on the nation’s top telecom companies to prove they are taking “aggressive action” to prevent consumers from receiving unwanted or fraudulent calls, after years of inaction and empty promises. McCaskill is asking the companies – who for years have promised results but delivered little—to outline the concrete steps they’re taking to protect consumers.

“I share the frustration of the millions of consumers who have waited far too long already for relief from fraudulent and unwanted robocalls,” wrote McCaskill, a senior member of Senate subcommittees on telecommunications and consumer protection, in letters to AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier Communications, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, and Verizon. “Enforcement of existing laws and regulations as well as consumer education efforts certainly have important roles to play in addressing this problem, but aggressive action from our nation’s telecommunications providers is our best hope at preventing unwanted robocalls from reaching consumers in the first place.”

The letter also notes: “Three years ago, following a July 2013 Senate hearing I convened on preventing fraudulent and unwanted robocalls, I wrote to trade associations representing the nation’s largest wireline and wireless telecommunications providers seeking an analysis of technologies available or under development to prevent robocalls from reaching consumers. [The associations]… outlined technical and legal challenges to implementing such technologies but both trade associations also indicated the industry was hard at work to develop technologies to address the problem. Three years and billions of unwanted robocalls later consumers have realized virtually no benefit of this work.”

McCaskill’s demanded answers from each of the seven companies on:

  • What – if any – actions the companies have taken in coordination with industry efforts, or individually, to offer consumers products and services to block unwanted robocalls.
  • A comprehensive list of products and services the companies offer today to help consumers block unwanted robocalls, including any additional costs charged to consumers for such products and services, and any restrictions on availability based on service territory or other factors.
  • Whether the companies plan to participate in the industry “strike force” being convened in light of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler’s July 2016 letter, or otherwise engage in activities over the same 60-day time period to deliver concrete results to help consumers combat unwanted robocalls.

McCaskill’s letter follows a letter last month from FCC Chairman Wheeler urging companies to do more to implement robocall blocking technologies and report back within 30 days. Three years ago, McCaskill asked the top telecom associations to evaluate the feasibility of implementing technology to help filter out unwanted calls and protect America's most vulnerable consumers. The industry’s response indicated they would be hard at work to address the problem, including developing better technologies—however little concrete action has been taken in the three years since.

McCaskill has introduced legislation, the Robocall and Call Spoofing Enforcement Improvements Act, to increase fines and penalties on robocall violators, streamline enforcement, expand the statute of limitations on violators, and enforce anti-spoofing provisions against violators outside the U.S. who target consumers inside the U.S. In addition, McCaskill—an outspoken critic of a provision of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 that rolled back consumer protections of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by allowing callers collecting federal debts to make robocalls—supports legislation that would repeal this provision.

This spring, McCaskill used a Senate hearing to again urge carriers to adopt robocall-blocking technology for consumers. After years of sustained pressure from McCaskill, the nation’s top telecom regulator last year voted 4-1 to clarify that phone companies can legally offer to their customers this technology, already available in other countries, to block robocalls and other unwanted calls. McCaskill has strongly encouraged companies to adopt this technology; helped lead a Senate hearing on robocalls, call spoofing, and other phone scams; and introduced bipartisan legislation, along with Republican Senator Susan Collins, to prevent scam artists from using phone technology to target victims.

Last year, Missouri led a group of 44 state attorneys general in urging the five major phone companies to offer call-blocking technology to their customers, stating, “Every year, our offices are flooded with consumer complaints pleading for a solution to stop intrusive robocalls. Your companies are now poised to offer your customers the help they need. We urge you to act without delay.”

Full text of McCaskill’s letters here to AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier Communications, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, and Verizon.

Visit mccaskill.senate.gov/consumers to learn more about McCaskill's fight to protect consumers.

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