14 DAY TRIAL // A bipartisan new bill was introduced on Friday by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) to add increased fines to illegal robocalls and to require telecommunications providers to implement call authentication measures designed to filter illegitimate calls.
As detailed by the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act (PDF), the bill is designed to "deter criminal robocall violations," as well as increase the time the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has at its disposal to "take civil enforcement action against intentional violations " to three years after the initial robocall.
This translates into a two-year increase, more than enough time for the FCC to use all the intelligence it has at its disposal to pinpoint the entities behind robocall spam campaigns and enforce regulations.
"The TRACED Act targets robocall scams and other intentional violations of telemarketing laws so that when authorities do catch violators, they can be held accountable," said Thune.
The TRACED Act also requires the FCC to add spoofed calls protection rules
Furthermore, "Existing civil penalty rules were designed to impose penalties on lawful telemarketers who make mistakes. This enforcement regime is totally inadequate for scam artists and we need do more to separate enforcement of carelessness and other mistakes from more sinister actors."
The TRACED Act will also allow the FCC to impose civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation and up to three times for each day of a continuing violation to all found robocallers who disobey telemarketing restrictions.
Moreover, the proposed bill is also designed to instruct all voice communication providers to develop effective and appropriate call authentication frameworks during the 18 months following the enactment of the TRACED Act.
"As the scourge of spoofed calls and robocalls reaches epidemic levels, the bipartisan TRACED Act will provide every person with a phone much needed relief," said Markey. "It’s a simple formula: call authentication, blocking, and enforcement, and this bill achieves all three."
It's also important to mention that the just introduced TRACED bill will also require the FCC to impose rules to protect customers from spoofed calls and texts during the year following the enactment of the law.