The FCC voted unanimously to adopt a set of rules that would allow all calls from carriers benefiting from robocalls to be blocked.
Robocalls have become a plague for modern consumers, with billions of robocalls made per month in the US alone. As a result, legislators have been working to crack down on the problem.
In its latest move, the FCC has created a safe harbor, wherein carriers have the option of blocking all calls from upstream, bad-actor carriers who profit from robocalls. This creates an option to tackle the problem on a much wider scale, without any liability issues.
“The first safe harbor protects phone companies that use reasonable analytics, including caller ID authentication information, to identify and block illegal or unwanted calls from liability,” reads the FCC’s statement.
“The second safe harbor protects providers that block call traffic from bad actor upstream voice service providers that pass illegal or unwanted calls along to other providers, when those upstream providers have been notified but fail to take action to stop these calls.”
This may prove to be a powerful tool in the fight against robocalls.
