Yesterday evening, CUNA joined with other trade
associations to send reply comments to the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) regarding its proposed regulations to eliminate unlawful
robocalls pursuant to the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and
Deterrence Act (TRACED Act). The TRACED Act, among other things,
requires the FCC to ensure that robocall blocking services are provided to
consumers with transparent and effective redress options for callers whose
calls are erroneously blocked. The joint trades previously
commented on the FCC’s proposals and drafted this reply after reviewing of
all the comments submitted by interested parties.
This
reply highlights the widespread support among commenters for a notification
requirement whenever a caller is blocked by a telephone service provider.
The letter also rebuts arguments against such requirements by pointing
out that notification is legally necessary, need not be overly prescriptive and
that concerns about tipping off bad actors are speculative and meritless when
weighed against the actual and known harms that erroneous call blocking has on
legitimate businesses such as credit unions. We also point out that the
FCC’s record demonstrates the need for prompt and effective response and
redress deadlines to quickly alleviate caller and customer harms that arise
from erroneous blocking. Finally, the letter argues that the same
notification and redress must be available for erroneous adverse labeling as
well, since customers of legitimate businesses will not pick up calls that are
mistakenly labeled as “Spam” or “Fraud Likely.”
In
addition to CUNA, the joint trades group sending this letter includes the
American Bankers Association, ACA International, American Financial Services
Association, Consumer Bankers Association, Mortgage Bankers Association,
National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions, National Retail
Federation, and the Student Loan Servicing Alliance.