Public Knowledge Cautions FCC Robocall Order Could Create New Service Fee

The Federal Communications Commission published a draft Order in the “Advanced Methods to Target and Eliminate Unlawful Robocalls” proceeding. On June 6, the FCC will vote on a Declaratory Ruling and Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking from this proceeding to enable carriers to block robocalls. As currently written, the FCC’s draft Order could culminate in carriers charging consumers for call-blocking services that may or may not work as intended, whether consumers want the service or not. “The big question here is who pays for this, and how much?" said Harold Feld, senior vice president of Public Knowledge. "This is particularly important on an opt-out plan, given that the Commission has given the carriers enormous discretion in how to contact customers and the general difficulties customers have in figuring out their bills. Given that customers will also have no idea how effective this will be, there need to be some safeguards here....At a minimum, carriers that use opt-out should be required to offer the service free for some trial period. Even better would be a free trial period followed by a need to opt-in for a paid service."