We’ve all gotten used to it. The phone rings with a phone number that we don’t recognize and it isn’t in our contact list. But based on the area code, and perhaps the next few digits, it looks like the caller is down the street or across town. It could be a teacher, a doctor, the assistant soccer coach. Is…

MYTH: FCC call completion regulations make it difficult for providers to block illegal and unwanted calls. FACT: Providers have no legal obligation to do business with any particular customer; providers can and must refuse traffic from any source they believe is sending illegal calls. Robocall Sources: Illegal robocalls come in many shapes and sizes. The most blatant, fraudulent calls impersonate…

On Wednesday, 7 September 2021, the National Association of Attorneys General will host their 2021 Robocall Virtual Summit, starting at 1 PM Eastern Time. There’s a great agenda of speakers from the enforcement and regulatory community, as well as industry. David Frankel, ZipDX CEO, and Matt Fischer from the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, will lead off…

For those of us focused on nefarious VOICE calling, it might be worth a brief look at the texting world – officially called Short Messaging Service, or SMS. Voice calls and texts are cousins because they both make use of telephone numbers. In the United States, this is the North American Numbering Plan. Most of us are used to sending…

New FCC rules took effect in 2021, putting the onus on Voice Service Providers to police the calls that they originate in order to mitigate illegal robocalling. Providers selling dialer traffic termination services are the primary source of illegal robocalls. While there are some legitimate uses of dialer traffic, most dialer traffic today is illegal. Providers choosing to offer this…

STIR/SHAKEN has been years in the making, with legislative and regulatory backing. One of the more exciting and useful outcomes is the FCC’s Robocall Mitigation Database (RMD). The RMD is not itself part of the new technology but was created to help manage its rollout. This new database was launched by the FCC in April. Service Providers were required to…

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is the 1995 law that was supposed to protect us from unfettered auto-dialing. The TCPA includes two key provisions guaranteed to keep the legal profession at full employment: Recipients of illegal robocalls have a Right of Private Action, allowing them to bring a civil suit against the caller. Statutory penalties are specified at $500…

Virtually all stakeholders agree that the most effective place to stop illegal robocalls is at the source – either the entity responsible for initiating the calls, or the voice service provider that is allowing them onto the network. Years ago, it was arduous, time-consuming and sometimes impossible to find the source. Now, traceback lets us identify the gateway provider (and…

To consumers, a robocall is a robocall is a robocall. But computer-initiated calls can be broken down into three distinct segments, as shown in the chart below. Each segment accounts for roughly a billion calls to Americans every month. Consumers generally are frustrated and annoyed by the YELLOW and RED calls. The RED category can be particularly harmful; those that…

BACKGROUND FCC’s 17-97 Second Report and Order (adopted 29-Sep 2020) instantiated the Robocall Mitigation Database. This new Database is expected to establish a chain of trust as calls flow from point of origination to termination through, potentially, a series of providers. Most importantly, if a provider abuses that trust, it gives the FCC a tool to shut down that provider…