Attorney General Masto Urges FCC to Allow Phone Companies to Block Unwanted Sales Calls to Customers


September 10, 2014

Las Vegas, NV — Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and 38 other state and territorial attorneys general sent a letter Tuesday to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to allow phone companies to utilize call-blocking technologies that would better protect consumers from unwanted calls and scams.

    Call-blocking technologies, such as NoMoRobo, Call Control, and Telemarketing Guard, have been developed to enable phone carriers to identify and block unwelcome sales calls at their customers’ request. However, some phone carriers have not implemented this technology, in part because of the belief that federal law prevents carriers from blocking calls on their consumers’ behalf.

      “It is imperative the FCC collaborate with phone companies in order to determine how these new call-blocking technologies can best operate to help people,” said Masto. “I will continue to work to protect Nevadans against illegal telemarketing robocalls.”

        Phone carriers have expressed concern that the FCC’s legal framework prohibits phone companies from determining which calls should be allowed to go through to a customer and which should be blocked. Last year, in explaining the obstacles that phone carriers face in implementing call-blocking technologies, US Telecom wrote to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance that “the FCC has concluded that call blocking is an unjust and unreasonable practice under section 201(b) of the Communications Act of 1934.”

          In her letter to the FCC, Attorney General Masto asks for a formal opinion on whether an exception can be made to allow companies to block illegal telemarketing calls at the request of a consumer.

            Click here to read the NAAG letter.

              Consumers can add their phone numbers to the National Do Not Call Registry. It is operated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), with information available at DoNotCall.gov. If you have already registered a cell phone number, or another telephone number, you do not need to re-register. Do Not Call registrations do not expire.

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