INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller today led 45 state attorneys general in calling on the major phone companies to offer call-blocking technology to their customers and to take steps to better inform their customers that the service exists.
In a joint letter to the chief executives of AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile and CenturyLink, the attorneys general said a new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rule clarification allows telecommunication service providers to offer customers the ability to block unwanted calls, and verifies that federal law does not prohibit offering the services in a more comprehensive way.
Currently some carriers offer call-blocking, but those services have limitations and do not offer more mass blocking options that would stop calls before getting to the customer.
In the letter the attorneys general stated, “Every year, our offices are flooded with consumer complaints pleading for a solution to stop intrusive robocalls. Your companies are now poised to offer your customers the help they need. We urge you to act without delay.â€
Zoeller said phone carriers had previously claimed they could not offer such services. At a July 2013 hearing before a Senate subcommittee, representatives from the US Telecom Association and CTIA-The Wireless Association testified that “legal barriers prevent carriers from implementing advanced call-blocking technology to reduce the number of unwanted telemarketing calls.â€
“Now that legal hurdles have been cleared, phone companies should immediately start offering call-blocking services to customers,†Zoeller said. “Attorneys general work to deter and prosecute scammers and ruthless telemarketers who make intrusive calls, but these bad actors continue to skirt laws and harass people. I am asking the phone companies to act now to assist us in this fight and help protect their customers’ telephone privacy rights.â€
Zoeller said call-blocking options already exist for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone service (NoMoRobo.com) and Android cell phones (Call Control), and the phone carriers should move quickly to implement and inform their customers of these options.
Last September, Zoeller led 39 attorneys general in a letter urging the FCC to allow phone companies to utilize call-blocking technologies. The FCC chairman endorsed the request in late May and the FCC voted to pass the rule clarification on June 18.
Unwanted calls and texts are the most common complaint received by the Indiana Attorney General’s Office, with more than 13,000 complaints being filed in 2014. Within the last year, nearly 7,500 Indiana residents complained to the Indiana Attorney General’s Office specifically about illegal robocalls.
Indiana residents can sign up for the state’s Do Not Call list or file an unwanted call complaint by visiting www.IndianaConsumer.com or calling 1.888.834.9969.
