FCC Says Small Telecoms Must Implement a Special Caller ID Authentication Tool To Help Identify Spam Calls

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Fierce Wireless reported that according to the estimates from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), reducing the waste of time and inconvenience caused by illegal robocall scams could save $3 billion in costs each year and shield Americans from the $10 billion in yearly consumer fraud that these scams perpetrate.

In addition to other sectors, hospitals have been a target of robocallers at a time when many are under a great deal of stress due to the coronavirus outbreak.

FCC Aims To Fight the Increasing Number of Spam Calls

The FCC approved rules mandating phone companies to install the STIR/SHAKEN caller ID identification system in their IP networks as part of its most recent effort to combat illicit robocalls.

According to Fierce Wireless, the decision approving the STIR/SHAKEN mandate specifies a June 30, 2021 deadline for all originating and terminating voice service providers. The decision and timeframe for the STIR/SHAKEN mandate carry out guidelines established by Congress in the TRACED Act. The bipartisan legislation provided the FCC more power in its efforts to combat illegal robocalls.

What Is the Use of STIR/SHAKEN

The STIR/SHAKEN technical standard enables phone providers to verify that the caller ID information sent genuinely corresponds to the caller's actual phone number.

One method used by robocallers to deceive people into answering a call is illegal spoofing, in which the caller ID appears to be a call coming from a reliable number rather than the actual source, Fierce Wireless reported. The FCC said that STIR/SHAKEN, with widespread use, can assist voice providers in identifying fraudulently spoofed phone numbers before those calls even reach customers, as well as make it easier for law enforcement to identify offenders.

Engadget noted that major carriers such as AT&T and Verizon have had the STIR/SHAKEN in place in 2021 And now, FCC wants to also implement this to smaller players.

Small Phone Carriers Will Also Implement a Special Caller ID Authentication Tool

FCC announced that starting on Thursday, small telecoms must implement this special caller ID authentication tool to help identify robocallers. According to Engadget, although the agency had originally given small carriers a more lenient June 2023 deadline to adopt STIR/SHAKEN, it eventually decided to speed up adoption after learning that a subset of these small voice service providers were making a rising number of illegal robocalls.

Is Flagging Possible Fraudulent Calls Sufficient To Safeguard Consumers?

Engadget cited a new report from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) which claimed that it is insufficient to report suspicious robocalls to stop the robocall industry. The report notes that the issue with the STIR/SHAKEN approach is that it simply requires originating providers to provide a certification stating their level of confidence that the caller ID displayed in the calls is accurate.

According to the report, this presumably suggests that calls from countries where the FCC's regulations do not apply can still be routed through gateway providers.