Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III is urging the Federal Communications Commission to fight back against illegal robocalls by moving up the deadline for smaller telephone companies to implement caller ID technology.
“Tennesseans don’t care whether a phone company is large or small. We’ve had enough with the daily, if not hourly, disruption from harmful, illegal robocalls,” said General Slatery.
Under the TRACED Act, which became law in 2019, phone companies are required to implement STIR/SHAKEN technology on their networks.
This caller ID authentication technology helps ensure that telephone calls are originating from verified numbers, not spoofed sources. Large companies were required to implement the technology by June 2021, and smaller phone companies were given an extension until June 2023.
However, some of the same smaller phone companies that are benefitting from this extension are also responsible for originating or facilitating high volumes of illegal robocalls that spam Americans and lead to financial or personal data loss. And without the STIR/SHAKEN technology in place, these smaller companies are failing to take a necessary step to minimize illegally spoofed robocalls.
The coalition of 51 attorneys general are asking the FCC to require these companies to implement the STIR/SHAKEN technology as soon as possible and no later than June 30, 2022.
Attorney General Slatery is joined by the Attorneys General of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
A copy of the comments is available
here.