Consumer Groups Urge FCC Not to Repeal Robocall Rules
The FCC shouldn’t repeal company-specific do not call rules and requirements that prerecorded calls include an automated opt-out mechanism, said the National Consumer Law Center, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and other consumer groups in an ex parte filing Thursday. Proposals to repeal the rules are on the agency’s Oct. 28 meeting agenda. “If adopted, the Commission’s proposals will unleash unstoppable telemarketing calls as well as unwanted robocalls such as unasked-for reminders, survey robocalls, and customer satisfaction robocalls,” the filing said. “As is evident from multiple comments from individuals and small businesses to the FCC in recent years, more protections are needed against unwanted and illegal calls, not fewer.”
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The requirement to maintain a company-specific do not call list “is the only mechanism by which subscribers who are not on the National DNC list can enforce their requests to no longer receive telemarketing calls,” the groups said. Removing the automated opt-out requirement “eradicates the best, most immediate way for subscribers to tell robocallers that their calls should stop,” and “the Commission’s suggestion that these protections are unnecessary because the National DNC Registry and the Commission’s general anti-robocall rules provide sufficient protection is unequivocally mistaken.”