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STATE COLLEGE, PA—Womble Bond Dickinson telecom attorney Marty Stern addressed the Pennsylvania Telephone Association Annual Spring Conference on anti-robocalling measures that are being considered by the FCC and Congress, and which would require voice services providers to implement call authentication procedures that are under development by the industry.
Stern’s session, entitled “Are Call Authentication Mandates Coming?” reviewed the increasing wave of robocalling over the last several years, and existing measures, such as the Telephone Consumer Protection and the Truth in Caller ID Act, that have had little impact on illegal robocalling activity, particularly involving offshore scammers and spammers. Stern also discussed the recent shift to carrier-focused strategies, including the FCC’s liberalization of permissive call and text blocking by carriers, and the FCC’s consideration of an industry-developed call authentication framework, known as SHAKEN/STIR, which allows phone companies to verify that a calling party’s phone number is legitimate before completing a call. Stern commented that bi-partisan anti-robocalling legislation, known as the TRACED Act, which had recently passed the Senate Commerce Committee, would mandate voice provider adoption of SHAKEN/STIR in their IP-based voice networks, and should be closed monitored by the industry as the legislation makes it way through the legislative process given its strong bi-partisan support in both the Senate and House.
The Pennsylvania Telephone Association Annual Spring Conference took place April 24-25 in State College.
Marty Stern provides legal and strategic counsel on regulatory, policy and commercial matters to telecommunications, information technology and media firms, including network operators, programmers, and technology companies, in the United States and globally. He also develops and executes regulatory and legislative strategies, including through trade associations and the formation and implementation of industry coalitions, and engages in associated advocacy.
