AT&T, Apple, Google to work on 'robocall' crackdown
AT&T, Apple, Google to work on 'robocall' crackdown
By David Shepardson August 19, 2016
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 30 major technology and
communication companies said on Friday they are joining the U.S. government to
crack down on "robocalls," automated, prerecorded phone calls that
regulators have labelled a "scourge."
AT&T Inc , Google parent Alphabet Inc , Apple Inc ,
Verizon Communications Inc and Comcast Corp are among members of the
"Robocall Strike Force" that held its first meeting with the U.S.
Federal Communications Commission.
The strike force will report to the FCC by Oct. 19 on
"concrete plans to accelerate the development and adoption of new tools
and solutions," said AT&T Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson,
chairman of the group.
The strike force hopes to implement Caller ID
verification standards to help block calls from spoofed phone numbers and
consider a "Do Not Originate" list that would block spoofers from
impersonating legitimate phone numbers from governments, banks or others.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in July urged major companies to
take new action to block robocalls, which often come from telemarketers or scam
artists.
"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."
Stephenson emphasized "the breadth and
complexity" of the problem.
"This is going to require more than individual
company initiatives and one-off blocking apps," Stephenson said.
"Robocallers are a formidable adversary, notoriously hard to stop."
The FCC does not require robocall blocking and filtering
but has strongly encouraged phone service providers to offer those services at
no charge.
The strike force brings together carriers, device makers,
operating system developers, network designers and the government.
"We have to come out of this with a comprehensive
play book for all of us to go execute," Stephenson said. "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."
Stephenson said technical experts representing the
companies have had "preliminary conversations about short and longer-term
initiatives."
Joan Marsh, AT&T vice president of federal regulatory
issues, called the problem complicated. "We have been wrangling with this
problem long enough to know there is no silver bullet," she said.
"Nothing by itself is going to do it."
Other companies taking part include Blackberry Ltd ,
British Telecommunications Plc [BTCOM.UL], Charter Communications Inc, Frontier
Communications, LG Electronics Inc <066570 .ks="">, Microsoft Corp, Nokia
Corp, Qualcomm Inc, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd <005930 .ks="">, Sirius XM
Holdings Inc, T-Mobile US Inc and U.S. Cellular Corp .
Consumers Union, a public advocacy group, said the task
force is a sign "phone companies are taking more serious steps to protect
their customers from unwanted calls."
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu
Nomiyama, Lisa Von Ahn and David Gregorio)
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