Robocalls are typically used by scam artists and telemarketers. Described as a scourge by many, a taskforce has now been created to deal with this menace.
In a move designed to crack down on “robocalls”, more than 30 large communication companies have combined forces and have joined with the U.S. government’s efforts to crack down on the so called “robocalls,” which essentially are automated prerecorded phone calls that regulators have labeled as a “scourge.”
Alphabet Inc, AT&T, Verizon, Comcast Corp and Apple are members of the “Robocall Strike Force” which held its first meeting with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.
As per Randall Stephenson, chairman of the group and CEO of AT&T, the strike force will report to the FCC by Oct. 19 with “concrete plans to accelerate the development and adoption of new tools and solutions”.
Among the weapons in its arsenal is implementation of Caller ID verification standards which will help block calls from spoofed phone numbers. Another weapon is a “Do Not Originate” list which would block spoofers from impersonating legitimate phone numbers from banks, governments, or others.
In July, the FCC’s Chairman, Tom Wheeler, had urged major companies to initiate action to block robocalls, which typically originate from scam artists and telemarketers.
“This scourge must stop,” Wheeler said on Friday, calling robocalls the No. 1 complaint from consumers. “The bad guys are beating the good guys with technology,” Wheeler said. In the past, he has said robocalls continue “due in large part to industry inaction.”
Emphasizing on the “the breadth and complexity” of the problem, said Stephenson, “This is going to require more than individual company initiatives and one-off blocking apps. Robocallers are a formidable adversary, notoriously hard to stop.”
On its part, the FCC has encouraged ISPs to offer robocall blocking and filtering facilities to consumers free of cost.
The robocall strike force has brought together companies from various sectors including ISPs, operating system developers, device manufacturers, network designers and the government.
“We have to come out of this with a comprehensive play book for all of us to go execute. We have calls that are perfectly legal, but unwanted, like telemarketers and public opinion surveyors. At the other end of the spectrum, we have millions of calls that are blatantly illegal,” said Stephenson.
He went on to add that technical experts from the above mentioned spectrum of companies have already had a “preliminary conversations about short- and longer-term initiatives.”
Meanwhile a public advocacy group, Consumers Union, has said the task force is a sign “phone companies are taking more serious steps to protect their customers from unwanted calls.”
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