Robocall-killing database should be created by industry, senators say

Sens John Thune (R-SD) and Ed Markey (D-MA) are urging the mobile phone industry to fight robocalls and texts by creating a database of phone numbers that have been reassigned from one customer to another. Reassigned numbers are one of the major contributors to unwanted calls and texts, and carriers haven't done enough to fight the problem, said Sens Thune and Markey. The lawmakers wrote a letter to CEO Meredith Attwell Baker of CTIA–The Wireless Association, a lobby group that represents AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA, Sprint, and other mobile carriers. Sens Thune and Markey "believe wireless carriers may have an opportunity to provide consumers and businesses more needed relief by establishing a reassigned numbers database, containing a list of cell phone numbers that have changed ownership," they wrote. "Periodically, consumers receive unwanted robocalls and robotexts because the previous holder of the phone number provided consent. Not only are robocalls and robotexts to reassigned numbers a nuisance to consumers, but they also create liabilities for calling parties."

Sens Thune and Markey asked the CTIA to provide information on how wireless companies could compile reassigned numbers in a database and how they could provide access to the database so that callers (often telemarketers) can determine whether a number is still assigned to the original owner. The senators also asked whether the cost of the database can be covered by charging a fee to callers.