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TCPA

On February 6, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) announced that it had sent a letter to Lingo Telecom, LLC (“Lingo”) to demand that Lingo “immediately stop supporting unlawful robocall traffic on its networks.”  As background, Lingo is a Texas-based telecommunications provider that, according to the FCC’s letter, was the originating provider for “deepfake” calls made by Life Corp. to New Hampshire voters on January 21, 2024.  The calls, which imitated President Biden’s voice and falsified caller ID information, took place two days before the New Hampshire presidential primary and reportedly advised Democratic voters to refrain from voting in the primary.  

Continue Reading FCC Issues Cease-and-Desist Letter Regarding Robocalls Made Before New Hampshire Primary

This blog post summarizes recent telemarketing developments emerging at the federal level and from Missouri, Wisconsin and West Virginia.

Federal Legislation

On January 29, 2024, Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Ranking Member of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, introduced H.R. 7116, the “Do Not Disturb Act.”  A press release accompanying the bill’s introduction stated that Congressman Pallone introduced the bill “to protect consumers from the bombardment of dangerous and unwanted calls and texts that have been exacerbated by the Supreme Court’s decision in Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid . . .”  If enacted, the bill would, among other things, do the following:

Continue Reading Federal and State Telemarketing Legislative Updates

On January 16, the attorneys general of 25 states – including California, Illinois, and Washington – and the District of Columbia filed reply comments to the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) November Notice of Inquiry on the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) technology for efforts to mitigate robocalls and robotexts. 

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)…

Continue Reading State Attorneys General to FCC: Subject AI-Generated Voice Calls to TCPA Restrictions

On October 16, 2023, a group of Wisconsin state senators introduced S.B. 531, which would amend the state’s telephone solicitation statute to create new restrictions on “caller identification records,” which the bill defines in relevant part as “a record that is delivered electronically to the recipient of a telephone call or text message . . . that indicates the telephone number from which the telephone call or text message was initiated or similar information . . .”

If enacted, the bill would prohibit a person from “knowingly transmit[ing] a misleading or inaccurate caller identification record through a telephone call or text message with the intent to defraud or wrongfully obtain anything of value, including personally identifiable information.” 

Continue Reading Anti-Spoofing Caller ID Bill Introduced in Wisconsin
On December 30, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) released a Report and Order (“Order”) that imposed certain new restrictions on nonmarketing prerecorded calls to residential lines.  The action was in response to Congress’s mandate in the TRACED Act that the FCC reevaluate certain exemptions the agency previously granted regarding the consent requirements for prerecorded calls under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”).

Continue Reading FCC Imposes New Requirements on Nonmarketing Prerecorded Calls to Residential Lines