FCC chair wants carriers to block robocalls from spoofed numbers
The FCC in 2015 made it clear that voice service providers can offer call blocking tools to customers, but commissioners said at the time that more needed to be done about Caller ID spoofing. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has now scheduled a preliminary vote for March 23 on new rules designed to solve the problem.
"One particularly pernicious category of robocalls is spoofed robocalls, i.e., robocalls where the caller ID is faked, hiding the caller's true identity," the proposal says. "Fraudsters bombard consumers' phones at all hours of the day with spoofed robocalls, which in some cases lure consumers into scams (e.g., when a caller claims to be collecting money owed to the Internal Revenue Service) or lead to identity theft."
I wonder if the FCC chairman is planning to run for public office: he's certainly grabbing for free publicity. Given the LECs *permission* to spend a lot of money and time providing a service that will anger direct-marketing companies and benefit only powerless consumers isn't likely to produce any change.
If it benefits the public and lessens fraud, why isn't Mr. Pai seeking to make it a *requirement*?
Bill Horne Moderator