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The Federal Communications Commission is pushing the telephone companies to implement default automated call blocking services.
John Raoux / AP
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John Raoux / AP
The Federal Communications Commission is pushing the telephone companies to implement default automated call blocking services.
John Raoux / AP
Your phone company can start blocking automated calls without you having to ask.
On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission issued a decision authorizing and encouraging the telephone companies to block automated calls by default.
"We believe that these actions will help consumers in the short and long term to find the peace and quiet they deserve," said FCC President Ajit Pai.
At present, many telephone companies offer services that block automated calls, but consumers must specifically request and pay for them often. The decision forces companies to inform consumers of the change and to give them the option of not seeing their calls blocked.
Automated calls are a growing nuisance in the United States and many of them are illegal scams. The call blocking company, YouMail, estimates that in May alone, some 4.7 billion automated calls were made in the United States.
The FCC has long been encouraging the telephone companies to take firmer action on automated calls, and Pai said limiting fraudulent automated calls was his "top priority for consumer protection."
But historically, the telephone companies have been reluctant to take drastic action against them – in part because it is not always easy to determine what calls consumers would really like to see blocked. For example, some people would like an automatic call reminding them to pay a late bill, while others might find this call irritating.
While the FCC now says that companies are specifically allowed to block automated calls by default, the question of whether they will be protected or not legal responsibility if they block a call that the consumer wants or needs. The FCC has proposed to offer a legal "safe haven" if companies use an authentication framework encouraged by the board, which can check if a call is actually coming from where the l '#' s identifier 39, calling the said. This part of the FCC proposal goes to the public for comment before it becomes official.
"I think port security is extremely important for carriers because they do not want to be held accountable because they have blocked an important call," Alex Quilici, an expert in automated calls and CEO of NPR, told NPR. YouMail.
The decision seems to leave it to the companies to determine what is called blocking, emphasizing that it must be "based on a reasonable analysis of appeals".
Quilici expects companies to implement new services with caution. "My prediction is that telecom operators are rolling things out slowly," he says, and they will probably focus on clearly illegal calls. "I think carriers will have a much harder time mastering automated default calls."
USTelecom, a professional group representing telecom providers, described the FCC's decision as "not important".
He acknowledged that there was still work to be done, but stressed that "greater flexibility for carriers is a win for consumers".
The decision also opens the door for businesses by offering them an even more restrictive option for consumers: the FCC states that providers can offer consumers the option to only allow calls from numbers on their contact list .
It should be noted that the decision does not require companies to provide the free call blocking service by default, although it indicates that it "would be waiting for it most, if not all, suppliers do it. "
It was a disappointment for Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel of FCC. She voted in favor of the decision but disagreed on the costs: "I do not think this agency should applaud its efforts to reduce automated calls and then encourage consumers to pay."
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