FCC ramps up crusade against robocalls

The crusade against prerecorded telemarketing messages, aka “robocalls,” went into high gear over at the Federal Communications Commission in the past few days. The agency is proposing tougher restrictions on the technology, which allows vendors to generate over a thousand annoying phone messages per minute—a bargain at about two cents per hit. The new rules would require robocallers to get written consent from consumers before making them. And this restriction would include home phone owners who have an “established business relationship” with the company or entity making these auto-calls.

In addition, the regulations would require telemarketers to include an automated, interactive “opt-out” system by which robocall victims could, then and there, tell the bot to bug off forever. “Those changes will empower consumers to choose the messages they wish to receive and avoid those they do not,” FCC Chair Julius Genachowski declared on Wednesday. All five Commissioners applauded the proposals.

Inquiry, application, or transaction

Up until now, companies were forbidden to make telephone solicitations to the consumer generated National Do-Not-Call registry unless the caller has an “established business relationship” (EBR) with the end user. An EBR exists, the FCC’s Consumer Facts page explains, if the consumer “made an inquiry, application, purchase, or transaction regarding products or services offered by the person or entity involved.” It remains in effect for 18 months after the last business exchange or three months after the latest application or inquiry.

But under the agency’s latest proposals, even with an EBR, an entity will have to get permission to robocall the consumer in question. Part of the point of these tougher rules is to get in tandem with the Federal Trade Commission, which issued regulations similar to these in August. Back then, Federal Trade Commission Chair Jon Leibowitz’s tirade against robocalling was so alliterative it’s worth requoting. “Starting September 1, this bombardment of prerecorded pitches, senseless solicitations, and malicious marketing will be illegal,” Leibowitz warned. “If consumers think they’re being harassed by robocallers, they need to let us know, and we will go after them.”

Violators now face fines of up to $16,000 a robo-hit. But the FTC’s new enforcement regs didn’t include banks, politicians, charities, and telephone companies. From the FCC’s news release it looks like the latter agency wants to get those under the regulatory umbrella as well. Even then, exemptions will still abound: among them calls by tax-exempt groups, calls by your favorite politician urging you to vote for somebody, calls with noncommercial pitches, and nonadvertisement based reminder calls (e.g., your flight is cancelled; you’re getting a root canal on Thursday).

Emergency robocalls will also still be exempt. “The proposed rule revisions would not affect messages sent to consumers to alert them to emergency situations,” the Commission notes. These would doubtless come from, among other sources, community alert systems for remote areas funded by the Warning, Alert, and Response Network Act.