Today:  FCC Proposes Fine for Caller ID Spoofing, FCC Proposes New E-Rate Eligible Service List, FCC Announces Tentative Agenda for July Open Meeting

FCC Proposes $120 Million Fine for Caller ID Spoofing

The FCC proposed a $120 million fine against an individual who apparently made almost 100 million spoofed robocalls in violation of the Truth in Caller ID Act.  (The law prohibits callers from deliberately falsifying caller ID information to disguise their identity with the intent to harm or defraud consumers.)  The proposed fine is based on 80,000 spoofed calls that the FCC verified.  The calls were made by a Miami, Florida man, Adrian Abramovich.  He was also issued a citation for violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s robocall limits and the federal wire fraud statute.

FCC Proposes New E-Rate Eligible Service List

The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau has asked for comment on its proposed eligible services list (ESL) for the E-Rate program for FY 2018.  It invites comment on any aspect of the proposed ESL but specifically seeks comment on the following two issues:

• New language clarifying that on-premises Network Equipment that interfaces with a Category Two-eligible local area network (LAN) is eligible for Category One support if it is necessary to make a Category One broadband service functional;
• The category of service that should apply to inside wiring between different schools or libraries sharing a single building.

Comments may be filed on or before July 21, 2017; reply comments are due August 7, 2017.

FCC July Open Meeting -  Tentative Agenda

The FCC announced the tentative agenda for its July 13, 2017, Open Meeting, which the Chairman has dubbed Consumer Protection Month at the FCC.

• Call Authentication Trust Anchor –A Notice of Inquiry that seeks comment on methods to authenticate telephone calls to further secure telephone networks against illegal robocallers. The Notice seeks comment on implementing authentication standards for telephone calls, as well as the Commission’s role in this process and other public policy considerations.
• Advanced Methods to Target and Eliminate Unlawful Robocalls – A Notice of Inquiry that explores methods by which reassigned telephone number data could be made available to callers to avoid making unwanted calls to consumers.
• Protecting Consumers from Unauthorized Carrier Changes and Related Unauthorized Charges – A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking outlining steps to further curtail slamming and cramming.
• Rural Call Completion - A Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes rule changes to better address ongoing problems in the completion of long-distance telephone calls to rural areas. The item proposes to (1) adopt new rural call completion requirements for covered providers, and (2) eliminate the Commission’s existing rural call completion recording, retention, and reporting rules.
• Video Description –A Report and Order which increases the required hours of video described programming that covered broadcast stations and MVPDs must provide to consumers.

The agenda also includes items addressing the FCC’s equipment authorization program, use of the radar services band, and wireless microphone operations.

In a blog posting about the proposed agenda, the Chairman gave additional detail on some of the proposals to be considered.  With respect to the slamming and cramming item, the Chairman said he was “proposing a rule that would expressly ban misrepresentations on sales calls that typically precede a slam.  I’m also urging changes to our regulations that would make it harder for fraudsters to “cram” consumers—that is, put unauthorized charges on consumers’ phone bills.”  On rural call completion, he said that while existing rules have reduced complaints, “we’re still not where we need to be.’  Accordingly, he is asking the FCC to adopt “new, strong rural call completion requirements for certain telecommunications carriers.  At the same time, we want calls to rural America to remain affordable, so we’re looking at ways to reduce the burden of existing regulations, such as by eliminating some of the paperwork carriers must file with the Commission that hasn’t proven to be very useful.”

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The Regulatory Mix, TMI’s daily blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of a TMI Briefing.