A coalition of 12 phone companies and 51 attorneys general from around the country agreed to adopt eight principles to fight illegal robocalls, a group of state attorneys general announced Aug. 22.
The agreement is expected to help protect users from illegal robocalls and make it easier for attorneys general to investigate and prosecute bad actors, the group of state law enforcement officials said at a news conference.
The principles adopted are intended to allow phone companies to prevent robocalls by implementing call-blocking technology at the network level; to offer additional, free, call blocking and labeling tools to customers; to implement technology to authenticate that calls are coming from a valid source; and to monitor their networks for robocall traffic.
"The memorandum of understanding we are announcing today will significantly enhance our efforts as attorneys general to protect the public we serve," said North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein at the news conference on behalf of attorneys general across the country.
Stein also said that the state law enforcement officials would "absolutely welcome" congressional action on robocalls.
The coalition includes AT&T Inc., Sprint Corp., T-Mobile US Inc.T-Mobile US Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., Comcast Corp., Charter Communications Inc., CenturyLink Inc., U.S. Cellular Corp., Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc. and Windstream Holdings Inc.
"The member companies of USTelecom, CTIA and NCTA are taking action and aggressively responding to this threat with a variety of tools," said the collection of trade groups representing major telecom and cable companies in a joint Aug. 22 statement. "We appreciate the efforts of the state attorneys general, the FCC, the FTC and other agencies to further collaboration that will hold the scammers behind these calls responsible for their actions."
U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai also welcomed the bipartisan announcement.
"These principles align with the FCC's own anti-robocalling and spoofing effort," said Pai in a statement. "Earlier this month, the FCC adopted rules to apply anti-spoofing prohibitions to international robocalls, as called for by many of these same state attorneys general."
When asked about whether the agreement has any enforcement mechanisms to ensure that companies uphold commitments, Stein said the state law enforcement officials have "ways other than going to court to encourage their ongoing cooperation."
T-Mobile and AT&T recently agreed to offer cross-network call authentication to their customers as part of an ongoing effort to reduce unwanted calls.
