WASHINGTON—CUNA and NAFCU have weighed in again with the Federal Communications Commission regarding what both trade groups say are the negative effects of current rules in place to combat illegal robocalls.
CUNA and NAFCU sent letters to the FCC in response to a notice and request for comment about the implementation and effectiveness of call blocking measures.
The FCC issued a Declaratory Order and Notice to allow call blocking in June 2019. Although the commission made positive changes to the ruling prior to passage that would allow redress for erroneously blocked calls – including implementation of the new caller identification framework known as STIR/SHAKEN – NAFCU said it recommends that the commission direct service providers not to block unsigned calls until the STIR/ SHAKEN framework has been fully implemented.
NAFCU Response
“NAFCU members have reported a drastic increase in the volume of calls being blocked by Service Providers,” wrote NAFCU Regulatory Affairs Counsel Mahlet Makonnen in the letter. “NAFCU is alarmed by this trend and, accordingly, recommends the FCC halt Service Providers’ aggressive call blocking efforts.”
Makonnen indicates that service providers have moved forward in blocking calls – using their own algorithms as well as the industry-led SHAKEN/STIR framework – and such hurried methods have resulted in “the blockage of hundreds and thousands of legitimate calls, leaving callers and called parties without an appropriate redress.”
“NAFCU urges the FCC to ensure there is complete transparency and mitigation of blocking for both callers and called parties,” Makonnen continued.
NAFCU noted it has continuously offered support of the FCC's goal to eliminate illegal automated calls and urges the commission to do so using a fully tested and effective STIR/SHAKEN framework. The association suggests that the framework be “designed to ensure that important and often time-sensitive calls that legitimate businesses, including credit unions, place to their customers are not blocked.”
NAFCU noted it has previously sought clarification from the FCC on whether consumer-benefitting calls could be blocked under the expanded call-blocking authority service providers now possess. The Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act is the first federal law designed to curb unwanted robocalls and was signed by President Trump in December. The TRACED Act instructed the FCC to establish rules on the issue and requires the creation of an inter-agency working group.
CUNA’s Comment
“CUNA strongly supports the Federal Communications Commission’s efforts to curb illegal robocalls and, in particular, to address the use of unlawful spoofing that may facilitate fraudulent schemes,” CUNA’s letter reads. “At the same time, CUNA, along with many others, has cautioned against the use of call blocking technologies without the parallel ability of good-faith, legitimate callers to remove or correct the blocking or mislabeling of their legitimate, and often critical, calls.”
CUNA said it is concerned the FCC’s call-blocking order will result in credit unions being unable to contact members with important information, and since it can happen by default, the consumers would not even be aware the calls were being blocked.
“As CUNA has previously noted, there is near universal support for implementation of effective challenge mechanisms to enable callers to unblock calls,” the letter reads. “To be effective, the challenge mechanism requires use of real time notifications of call blocking, readily ascertainable contact information to lodge concerns and trigger a review process, and a commitment to promptly resolving erroneous blocking.”
CUNA also noted, since the FCC has no authority to authorize the blocking of legal calls, the commission must ensure that “those engaged in blocking calls promptly, transparently and effective reverse the inadvertent blocking of legal calls.”