Unwanted robocalls are a scourge and invasion of privacy ripe with fraud and identity theft, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said during opening comments at a meeting Friday with dozens of telecommunications companies.
Wheeler gaveled to order the first meeting of a “robocall strike force.”
Unwanted robocalls are by far the top complaint at the FCC with more than 200,000 public comments filed at the FCC each year.
“Americans have a right to be fed up,” Wheeler said. “The bad guys are beating the good guys with technology.”
AT&T is leading the strike force with 33 companies including Verizon, Apple and Microsoft. (Disclosure: Cox Communications, a division of the parent company of this station is a member of the strike force.)
The group’s mission is to implement technology to block robocalls from ever reaching smartphones while still allowing robocalls warning of safety issues like 911 outages, imminent severe weather and school closings.
“Robocalls are a formidable adversary that are notoriously hard to stop,” said AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson in his opening remarks.
Wheeler gave the strike force 60 days to come up with solutions to robocalls or “we will be forced to look for other solutions.”
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