FCC proposes new rules to counter robocallers, spammers

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed new rules to close a loophole used by robocallers and text-message spammers.

If adopted, the new rules would see significant restrictions placed on automatic recorded phone calls as also those that are autodialed but have real people standing by.

In a background briefing on 27 May, Federal Communications Commission officials announced a new effort proposed by chairman Tom Wheeler to virtually eliminate all automatically dialled calls and all unsolicited calls to wireless and wireline phones in the US.

With the new rules, phone owners would be able to stop unwanted calls by any reasonable means, including a verbal request.

The old loopholes, which included the existence of an established business relationship, are no longer available.

Similarly, exemptions for political activities and debt collectors have been withdrawn.

Politicians and political pollsters could still call landline phones and discuss issues over landlines, though within specified limits. Political calls to wireless phones would not be protected any more. Under the new rule, the wireless phone owners would also be allowed to block incoming text messages of all types.

The proposed regulations, if approved, would ban robocallers from harassing citizens. Even if the previous owner of a cell number was fine with the calls, robo-spammers would need to stop calling once the number was inherited by someone else, the watchdog stipulated.

Carriers would need to make sure the numbers were treated as a clean slate, under the  proposals, meaning telcos should use technology to block miscreants who continued to spam numbers even after they were assigned to new owners.

Robocallers are not allowed to dial up people unless consent of some sort had been obtained and forms had to be filled in to be removed from the lists. By robocalls the regulator means computers that played messages pushing businesses, loans, etc.

"Unwanted calls and texts are the number one consumer complaint to the FCC," the commission said, adding that it had 215,000 gripes on the issue last year.

"There are thousands of complaints to the FCC every month on both telemarketing and robocalls."