Industry Reports Call Blocking Progress Amid Problems
As the FCC considers tougher secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) and signature-based handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) rules (see 2104290082), major carriers said they’re protecting customers from unwanted calls, in filings mostly posted Monday in docket 17-59. Banking…
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and other groups warned that rules should ensure calls customers want still get through, in response to the Governmental Affairs Bureau request for input for its second call blocking report. "Customers are harmed when their banks’ outbound calling numbers are mislabeled, or calls from those numbers are blocked, because they may not receive lawful calls affecting their financial health,” the American Banking Association said: “It is critical for customers that these calls be completed without delay.” Incompas heard reports that call blocking is being used “on a more regular basis to block or divert legitimate traffic,” and said it “repeatedly raised concerns that call blocking could be used to erect barriers to competition and discriminate against competitive providers and their legitimate use cases.” Industry is “making great progress protecting consumers from unwanted robocalls” but “robocallers continuously deploy new tactics,” Verizon said: The company is seeing “a concerning increase in a new ‘dual seizure’ technique that bad actors use to efficiently insert millions of messages daily into nonconsenting consumers’ voice mailboxes without the calls ever causing the consumers’ devices to ring.” T-Mobile had a drop in robocalls a year ago, possibly because the pandemic closed some call centers. “Once calls resumed, new scams targeting subscribers purporting to relate to COVID-19 testing, vaccinations, unemployment insurance and stimulus checks arose,” T-Mobile said, noting its call blocking tools help. FCC efforts “have empowered AT&T to better protect its network and customers from illegal and unwanted robocalls,” the company said: “AT&T blocks illegal robocalls consistent with the Commission’s orders and has integrated the STIR/SHAKEN verification results into its call blocking analysis.” NCTA noted major cable operators adopted Stir/Shaken. “Policy advancements, industry investments in call authentication, blocking and labeling, and traceback, and aggressive law enforcement collectively are impacting the landscape,” said USTelecom: “No single initiative alone will solve the problem of illegal and unwanted robocalls, but each step makes an incremental difference.”