ROBOCOP - FCC Crackdown on Robocalls

"Hate those robocall polls?  The FCC is cracking down" PBS NewsHour 6/23/2015

Note the loop-hole 'they' can drive a truck through, the customer has to request.  I expect that phone companies will NOT ASK a customer with this new rule.

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  In the years since the federal "Do Not Call" registry, there's been a big rise in the number of robocalls -- automated and recorded calls and texts that barrage your phone repeatedly.  Judy Woodruff interviews Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, about why the FCC is giving companies more power to block them at consumer request, plus subsidies for broadband internet.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  It’s been more than a decade since the federal government first came up with a do not call registry to block unwanted phone calls.  That move had a major impact initially.  But in the years since, there’s been a big rise in the number of robocalls people get, those automated and recorded phone calls and texts that repeatedly go to your phone.

The Federal Communications Commission is now giving phone companies more power to block or prevent robocalls if consumers request it.

Tom Wheeler is the chairman of the FCC, and he joins me now.

And welcome back to the program.

TOM WHEELER, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission:  Hello, Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  So how is this rule different than the previous one having to do with robocalls?

TOM WHEELER:  Well, the original rule is a result of a 1991 act of Congress.  And 24 years ago, the world was a little different in terms of technology.

The people who were making the calls that interrupted your dinner at that point in time literally were sitting down and dialing.  And that technology, that approach got replaced by new technology that’s computerized, like everything else.  So, they just feed a list of numbers in and all of a sudden a list of calls get made.

And our rules didn’t keep pace with that, so that people were arguing that they had a legal right to do this.  And we just said simply, stop.  The consumer needs to be the one who is in charge.  The consumer needs to give consent that they want to be called, or if they are called and haven’t given consent, to remove that consent by saying, don’t call me anymore, or by calling their phone company and saying, I don’t want to get these calls.