Attorney General Bill Schuette on Tuesday urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to allow phone companies to utilize call-blocking technologies that would better protect consumers from illegal telemarketing robocalls and phone scams.
“Michigan consumers deserve access any advanced call-blocking technologies that may help protect them against illegal and annoying robocalls from telemarketers”, said Schuette.
Last year, the Federal Trade Commission received more than one hundred thousand complaints from Michigan residents about unwanted calls. Since January, Schuette’s office has received more than 250 complaints from consumers who received an unwanted call, the majority from unidentified callers.
Call-blocking technologies including NoMoRobo, Call Control, and Telemarketing Guard, enable phone carriers to identify and block unwelcome sales calls at their customers’ request. However, some phone carriers have not implemented this technology, in part because of the belief that federal law prevents carriers from blocking calls on their consumers’ behalf.
Schuette noted phone carriers have expressed concern that the FCC’s legal framework prohibits phone companies from determining which calls should be allowed to go through to a customer and which should be blocked. Last year, in explaining the obstacles that phone carriers face in implementing call-blocking technologies, US Telecom wrote to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance that “the FCC has concluded that call blocking is an unjust and unreasonable practice under section 201(b) of the Communications Act of 1934.”
In a letter signed by 31 other state and territorial attorneys general, Schuette filed official comments today with the FCC. The letter urges the commission to recognize call-blocking filters as legally appropriate, if requested by customers.
In his letter to the FCC, Attorney General Schuette asks for a formal opinion on whether an exception can be made to allow companies to block illegal telemarketing calls at the request of a consumer.
Schuette reminded consumers to sign up on the National Do Not Call list, which helps to deter unwanted and fraudulent calls and text messages, by visiting www.ftc.gov/do-not-call or calling toll-free 1-888-382-1222. View the following link for more information on Michigan Telemarketing laws from Schuette’s Consumer Protection Division: http://1.usa.gov/WAcuQW. View the following Consumer Alert from Schuette, “Telemarketing Fraud – Never Give Personal Information to Unknown Callers” http://1.usa.gov/1q8Ptlt.
States and territories that signed the letter to the FCC are: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.
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