FCC: Phone carriers that profit from robocalls could have all calls blocked

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"Bad-actor" phone companies that profit from robocalls could be blocked by more legitimate carriers under rules approved unanimously yesterday by the Federal Communications Commission.

Under the change, the FCC said carriers can block calls "from bad-actor upstream voice service providers that pass illegal or unwanted calls along to other providers, when those upstream providers have been notified but fail to take action to stop these calls." Carriers that impose this type of blocking will get a safe harbor from liability "for the unintended or inadvertent blocking of wanted calls, thus eliminating a concern that kept some companies from implementing robust robocall blocking efforts."

This expanded level of blocking-spurred by a new law in which Congress directed the FCC to expand safe harbors-could be implemented by companies that sell phone service directly to consumers. That includes mobile carriers Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, traditional landline companies, and VoIP providers.

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