Acer’s Predator Orion gaming desktops will support Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs, said the PC vendor Tuesday. The GPUs power graphics “experiences” at all resolutions, “even up to 8K at the top end,” said Acer.
The FCC isn't backing down against robocalls, Wireline Bureau Chief Kris Monteith told an FCBA webinar Tuesday. “Work is ongoing at the commission and growing on all fronts,” she said. “We will continue to make policy to allow for better enforcement to promote industry efforts to prevent robocalls."
The Senate Commerce Committee cleared a trio of telecom and tech bills on voice votes Wednesday, including the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (S-151). S-151 would increase FCC authority, allowing the agency to levy civil penalties of up to $10,000 per call when the caller intentionally flouts the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (see 1901170039).
Telecom parties sought more FCC leeway to block illegal robocalls while others decried legal "false positive" calls being blocked. Carriers need "flexibility to combat [illegal] calls in multi-faceted and creative ways," CTIA replied, posted in docket 17-59 Wednesday (see 1810090039). It said carriers "combatting illegal robocalls in good faith must have protection from associated legal and regulatory liability; and the ecosystem should not be stifled by rules aimed at addressing false positives," an issue "unlikely to be caused by carrier-initiated blocking." Identify "targeted situations where the consumer benefits of permitting blocking will outweigh any risk of interference with lawful calls," advised NCTA. It urged permitting but not mandating "blocking pursuant to objective criteria developed by providers or industry standard-setting bodies, including the SHAKEN/STIR [Secure Handling of Asserted information using toKENs/Secure Telephone Identify Revisited] protocol" for call authentication. Voice providers should be empowered to offer access to blocking services "on an opt-out basis to a greater extent than they do today by affirming the permissibility," said the American Cable Association. It noted consumer group support for opt-out that cited few consumers as opting in to blocking. T-Mobile vendor First Orion sought a "balanced" approach to develop "innovative call protection solutions" without regulating call labeling. SiriusXM opposed expanding call-blocking authority, "at least until effective solutions to the problem of false positives have been fully implemented." It said many initial commenters (see 1809250031) minimized "overblocking" problems, as FCC efforts to target spoofed and other illegal calls "inadvertently led to widespread blocking and mislabeling of legitimate calls." It called for adopting "pragmatic recommendations like white lists, intercept messages, Caller ID requirements, and mandatory time frames" for voice providers to respond to complaints and halt blocking of legal calls. Neustar backed the FCC's existing criteria -- "invalid, unallocated, unassigned, and do-not-originate telephone numbers" -- for industry blocking of suspect robocalls. "In other cases, however, although some calls may have characteristics that make them appear to be illegal robocalls, there is high risk that legitimate traffic may be blocked as well. ... It is better to use the Caller ID system to provide information to consumers."
Parties urged new FCC actions to combat unwanted robocalls, differing on specifics. Telecom providers seek more call-blocking authority with regulatory flexibility; consumer groups recommend a more prescriptive approach; and telemarketers want fine-tuning to better target illegal calls and reduce "false positives" blocking legal calls. Comments were posted through Tuesday on a public notice to update the record in docket 17-59, after a November order authorized voice providers to block calls deemed highly likely to be illegal: from phone numbers on a "Do-Not-Originate" list and "those that purport to be from invalid, unallocated, or unused numbers."
Commenters offered mixed views on actions and proposals to fight unwanted robocalling, as comments were posted Friday and Monday in docket 17-59 on an FCC public notice soliciting input for an upcoming staff report in consultation with FTC. There is no "silver bullet," so "efforts continue to move forward across multiple fronts," including "increasing deployment of various tools to consumers, advancing efforts with respect to the deployment of SHAKEN [Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs] and STIR [Secure Telephone Identify Revisited], as well as the Commission’s expansion of carriers’ ability to block illegal robocalls," said USTelecom, citing "marked strides" in the areas. "Industry and the FCC are aggressively working to mitigate illegal robocalling," said CTIA: "Efforts are promising, but with so much going on, it is premature to try to measure the effectiveness." Comcast said "significant progress has been made on various fronts," with "further important efforts" ongoing. "Despite ongoing progress by industry in formulating best practices and bringing call blocking technologies to market, illegal robocalls remain a significant concern," said the Professional Association for Customer Engagement. PACE urged the FCC to continue to engage with "industry organizations, such as the Communication Protection Coalition, that seek to implement best practices" and to promote "implementation of the SHAKEN/STIR framework." It called on industry and the FCC to "ensure that the telephone network remains available to legal callers and that legal callers are provided an opportunity to challenge erroneous blocking/labeling." The American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management backed FCC efforts "to protect consumers from illegal robocalls by bad actors. Consumers Union, the National Consumer Law Center and Consumer Federation of America warned "against narrowly focusing on scam robocalls exclusively," saying "the FCC and FTC should solicit data to assess the scope of the entire robocall problem, from phone companies, callers, and call-mitigation services." Others commenting: The American Cable Association, AmeriFactors Financial Group, AT&T, ATIS, First Orion, Neustar, Noble Systems, Sprint, TNS, TransNexus and Verizon.
Democrats used a Friday House Digital Commerce Subcommittee hearing on addressing abusive robocalls to promote the newly refiled House version of the Help Americans Never Get Unwanted Phone Calls (Hangup) Act and two other draft bills. House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and other subcommittee Republicans emphasized the importance of encouraging private sector-led technical solutions to halt abusive robocalls. Three industry witnesses urged lawmakers to let the private sector continue to take the lead in addressing the issue, while Consumers Union Policy Analyst Maureen Mahoney sought a legislative fix.
Consumers have a mushrooming array of options for blocking or otherwise avoiding unwanted robocalls, but legitimate callers are increasingly caught up in those nets, robocall service vendors said Monday at an FCC/FTC expo on illegal robocall technology. Legitimate callers "are getting Heismaned" by robocall-blocking tech, said Deirdre Menard, Transaction Network Services director of product management.
The FCC received wide and nuanced input on ways to ensure or facilitate unblocking of calls erroneously blocked by anti-robocalling measures. Many urged mandatory challenge mechanisms or other new rules to speed unblocking of legitimate calls, while others resisted potential regulations. More comments were posted Tuesday and Wednesday in docket 17-59 on a November Further NPRM attached to an order encouraging providers to block illegal calls. Previous comments mostly expressed skepticism about unblocking regulation (see 1801230062). Noting a 2015 order authorizing consumer-initiated call blocking, collections group ACA International said the FCC should adopt "call blocking mitigation mechanisms that apply both to provider-initiated and consumer-initiated call blocking." The Professional Association for Customer Equipment, Alorica and the Consumer Relations Consortium urged the FCC to require carriers to offer call-blocking mitigation services for call originators and recipients, along with speedy agency complaint procedures. The Electronic Transactions Association backed an FCC challenge mechanism if it promotes "centralized feedback" as part of an industry standard. Hiya backed a challenge mechanism and the Retail Energy Supply Association urged numerous new FCC requirements. SiriusXM said it's being harmed by aggressive blocking of legal calls and proposed various rules to facilitate unblocking. NTCA said providers that block calls should be required to send callers with blocked numbers an "intercept message" notifying them of the action and possible remedial steps. Consumer groups don't oppose an unblocking mechanism if there are safeguards but sought new FCC actions to combat illegal robocalling. The National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions also urged the FCC to stay focused on cracking down on unlawful robocalls, and wait to undo harmful effects until litigation over the 2015 order is resolved. Colonial Penn Life Insurance backed the FCC initiative if it acts to ensure legitimate marketers aren't snared. USTelecom opposed a challenge-mechanism requirement and asked the FCC to back industry-led unblocking efforts. Verizon said the FCC should encourage industry efforts, saying much depends on whether blocking is opt-in or opt-out. NCTA said the FCC should monitor voluntary call blocking before deciding on new rules. Comcast opposed possible new reporting duties but suggested the FCC require voice providers to create their own user-friendly webpages for reporting erroneous call blocking. First Orion said industry parties need leeway to develop their own challenge mechanisms, and Transaction Network Services suggested a challenge mechanism is tricky to implement. ITTA opposed possible new industry reporting duties for voice providers. Incompas asked to hold off on such obligations for now, and "not rush to implement any solutions" that could harm upstart competitors until reliable robocall detection is available industrywide.
Some voiced skepticism about possible FCC robocalling actions to speed unblocking of erroneously blocked calls. FTC staff and CTIA said new requirements weren't justified, though a Maryland county consumer office was supportive. Comments were posted this week in docket 17-59 on a November Further NPRM attached to an order (see 1711160054 and 1711200055).