FCC Moves To Restrict Robo Calls

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted on Thursday to make it harder for telemarketers and other businesses to place unwanted robocalls and to expand a government telephone subsidy program for low-income Americans to cover Internet access.

Reuters reports the FCC's Democratic majority voted 3-2 to change autodialing rules and give telephone companies legal cover to offer consumers new technologies to block robocalls.

The regulators also voted 4-1, although two approved only parts of the program, to begin revamping the $1.7 billion Lifeline subsidy to give recipients a choice of using it for phone service, high-speed Internet, or both.

Robocalls and robotexts are by far the most common consumer complaints at the FCC, topping 215,000 last year.

The FCC reasserted on Thursday that companies need the consent of consumers, but allowed one free pass on calls to numbers reassigned to other users without a company's knowledge.

Regulators did, however, create exemptions from the consumer consent requirement for time-sensitive healthcare and financial calls.

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