Telecommunications companies should implement technologies and services to block automated calls, said AG

Telecommunications providers should implement default technologies and services to block illegal and unwanted automated calls and protect consumers from identity theft, said Michigan Attorney General , Dana Nessel.

Nessel is joined this week to all state attorneys general to urge the Federal Communications Commission to encourage telecom service providers to provide such services.

The Attorney General's letter comes after the FCC issued a declaratory ruling and proposed new rules for federal and industry efforts to block illegal automated calls and eliminate spoofing. 39, identity of the appellant.

Last week, attorneys general and 12 major telecommunications providers unveiled several "anti-call principles".

In their letter, Attorneys General stated that telecommunications providers should:

• Offer all customers free default call blocking services, based on reasonable analysis that does not block important calls such as emergency alerts or automated calls requested by customers;
• Implement the Caller ID authentication technology, known as STIR / SHAKEN, which will ensure that phone calls come from secure and verified numbers as quickly as possible;
• Set up separate authentication of the caller identity of the fixed network to prevent illegal and unwanted automated calls to the elderly or living in rural areas; and,
• Make sure call blocking and authentication efforts protect consumer data.

Participating carriers include AT & T, Bandwidth, CenturyLink, Charter, Comcast, Consolidated, Frontier, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, Verizon and Windstream.