Telephone

CFA Joins Amicus Brief in Support of Overturning Court Decision Undermining Protections Against Unwanted Robocalls

Court Didn't Consider Context of the Federal Communications Commission's Rule Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act

The Consumer Federation of America, along with the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Public Knowledge, and the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates, filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear and overturn a court decision that vacates a useful mechanism for mitigating the scourge of robocalls and lays the groundwork to eviscerate consumer protections.

The Federal Communications Commission enacted a rule under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act restricting how consumer consents to get robocalls can be obtained and prohibiting their resale, in order to stop Americans from being bombarded with billions of unwanted robocalls every month. This rule, if it goes into effect, would greatly reduce the volume of unwanted and illegal robocalls, redounding to the benefit of consumers, telecommunications providers attempting to mitigate scam robocalls, and small businesses victimized by these calls.