It's about to become a lot harder for telemarketers to spam your phone with robocalls and texts
APFCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is at war with robocalls.Everyone knows about the "Do Not Call List," but the wonderful dream of a spam-free phone life continues to be a sham. Unfortunately, the "Do Not Call List" simply hasn't worked in the way the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission wanted it to.
That's because telemarketers have been exploiting a loophole in a 1991 consumer protection law that allowed them to contact you using robocalls, automatically dialed calls, and increasingly, even text messages.
But that's about to change.
The FCC is finally taking action to close this annoying loophole. A new rule, which took effect Thursday, clarifies that robocalls, robotexts, and their kin are the same as "cold calls," and allows phone carriers to block them if customers ask, The Wall Street Journal reports. And in the case of recycled numbers, it would allow telemarketers one chance to call before being penalized. If you don't want robocalls you won't get them anymore - at least unless telemarketers manage to find another loophole to take advantage of.
"The American public has asked us - repeatedly - to do something about unwanted robocalls," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said. "Today we help Americans hang up on nuisance calls." Wheeler also revealed that the FCC gets more complaints about robocalls than anything else, with 215,000 complaints in 2014 alone.
And in case you are worried that "legitimate" robocalls might be targeted, this new rule contains exceptions. Banks, for example, can still warn you of potential fraud on one of your accounts. But they can't try to sell you new services.
Unfortunately, some think that telemarketers, as always, will still find a way around the FCC's new rules. Jonathan Banks of USTelecom told The Wall Street Journal that no single technological solution can solve the problem. Especially because of the rampant use of "spoofed numbers," or using a fake number for caller ID purposes.
But thankfully it's only going to get increasingly difficult for telemarketers to spam you with unwanted phone calls and texts, and that's definitely a step in the right direction.