BrianAJackson/iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday adopted rules that would allow phone companies to take proactive steps to block illegal robocalls.
The agency notes that unwanted calls, a category that includes illegal robocalls, prompt more than 200,000 consumer complaints each year. As a result of the “advancements in technology,” making robocalls and “spoofing” Caller ID information to hide the callers identity has gotten easier.
In response, the FCC says it will “expressly authorize voice service providers to block robocalls that appear to be from telephone numbers that do not or cannot make outgoing calls.”
Any call coming from a number that is placed on a “do not originate” list by the number’s subscriber, purporting to be from an invalid number, from numbers that have not been assigned a provider, or which are allocated to a provider but are not currently in use can be blocked.
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