May 5, 2020
Carson City, NV – Nevada Attorney
General Aaron D. Ford is calling on USTelecom to continue its collaboration
with state attorneys general by reinforcing technological capabilities to
improve enforcement against illegal robocalls. USTelecom is the leading
organization representing telecommunications providers and its Industry Traceback
Group (ITG).In
their letter to USTelecom, the attorneys general ask the organization to
advance the ITG’s abilities in identifying robocall campaigns, trends and
business ecosystems; conduct automated traceback investigations; and coordinate
with relevant law enforcement agencies. AG Ford is joined by a bipartisan coalition of 51 attorneys
general.
“Robocalls affect everyone
far and wide, and I’m proud to be working on several fronts to protect Nevadans
from these annoying and illegal calls,” said
AG Ford. “By collaborating with USTelecom, I hope to increase
our capacity to track robocalls and provide law enforcement with tools to help
address the public’s needs.”
The coalition’s
letter follows a January 2020 meeting in Washington, D.C. with representatives
from state attorneys general offices, federal agencies and the telecom industry.
Some priorities developed at that meeting include:
- Automating and increasing the total
volume of traceback investigations;
- Alerting relevant law enforcement
agencies of suspected illegal robocall campaigns;
- Enabling law enforcement agencies to
electronically upload and receive responses to subpoenas and civil
investigative demands, and providing swift response to those requests; and
- Identifying noncooperative Voice Service
Providers, including those that don’t participate in the traceback process,
repeatedly originate or accept illegal robocalls, or repeatedly fail to provide
sufficient records.
The coalition
believes these measures would strengthen the partnership between the
USTelecom-backed ITG and attorneys general, a relationship that led to the
creation of the Anti-Robocall
Principles. These principles were established in August
2019 when 51 attorneys general and 12 major telecom providers took aim at
reducing the number of unwanted and illegal robocalls reaching the American
people.
More recently,
and due in part to the support from the telecommunications industry and state
attorneys general – the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and
Deterrence (TRACED) Act was signed into law by the federal government. This law
enables the industry to develop call-authentication protocols to combat
caller-ID spoofing and implement other sweeping anti-robocall measures.
The issued
letter is attached.
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