On December 30, President Donald Trump signed new legislation aimed at addressing illegal
robocalls and, particularly, scam calls. The legislation passed the
US House and Senate by overwhelming bipartisan votes earlier in
December.
The law gives new tools to the Federal Communications Commission
and the US Department of Justice to target and punish illegal
robocalls. Additionally, it requires the FCC to review its
standards for autodialed calls that are not subject to the
telemarketing rules and, potentially, narrow the exemptions from
those rules. It also requires voice service providers to adopt call
authentication methodologies, notably STIR/SHAKEN, which could be
used to block calls; to take steps to be able to trace calls back
to their sources; and to provide call authentication and robocall
blocking services without imposing additional fees. In addition,
the FCC must consider requiring voice service providers to know the
identities of their customers.
