It has become known that very soon the Federal Communications Commission may significantly complicate the process for telemarketers to send silent voice messages to your smartphones. And to get into the details, this Wednesday the chairman of the above-named commission, Jessica Rosenworsel, shared her new proposal, which is primarily aimed at getting callers to first get your consent before they can leave a message in your voicemail box.
The proposal would effectively expand the protections afforded under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act to include voice mail without ringing. The law, originally passed in 1991, if you’re not aware, prohibits telemarketers and other groups from using automated systems to make non-emergency calls to your cell phone without first obtaining your consent. However, in March 2017, All About the Message asked the Federal Communications Commission to decide that this does not apply to voice mail without ringing.
And yes, Jessica Rosenworsel’s latest proposal will reject this petition. “Voicemail without calls can be annoying, invasive and can lead to fraud like other robocalls, so it should be subject to the same consumer protection rules. No one wants to wade through voicemail spam or miss important messages because their inbox is full. This action by the FCC will continue to give consumers the ability to choose which parties they allow to contact them through this method,” Jessica said.
But be that as it may, so far the FCC has not announced when exactly it plans to hold a full commission vote on this proposal. The agency’s next public meeting, by the way, is scheduled for Feb. 18, but there’s no discussion of voicemail without calls, at least for now, on the agenda for that date. So for the time being, there is absolutely no guarantee that the above-mentioned commission will indeed approve this proposal. And yet, the prospects in this direction are present, and very impressive, because compared to such a topic as net neutrality, the fight against spam, especially telephone spam, is exactly what the vast majority of Americans want the government to take additional measures on.
