Federal Communications Commission FCC-CIRC2312-02
6
of their networks.
23
Taken together, these requirements help identify bad actors—both callers and voice
service providers—and stop these calls at their source.
11. Enforcement. The Commission has also taken enforcement action to protect consumers
against illegal calls. For example, the Sumco Forfeiture Order found that certain robocall campaigns
violated the TCPA for reasons including the telemarketers’ failure to obtain prior express written consent
before initiating telemarketing calls to wireless phones and residential lines.
24
And the Commission
recently required all voice service providers immediately downstream from a specific gateway provider to
block and cease accepting all traffic from that gateway provider after it repeatedly allowed transmission
of illegal robocalls into the United States.
25
B. Combating Unwanted and Illegal Texts
12. The Commission for the first time required providers to block certain texts that are highly
likely to be illegal in March of 2023.
26
The Commission required providers to block—at the network
level—texts purporting to be from North American Numbering Plan (NANP)
27
numbers on a reasonable
23
See Call Authentication Trust Anchor, Implementation of TRACED Act Section 6(a)—Knowledge of Customers by
Entities with Access to Numbering Resources, WC Docket Nos. 17-97 and 20-67, Report and Order and Further Notice
of Proposed Rulemaking, 35 FCC Rcd 3241, 3252, para. 24 (2020) (requiring originating and terminating providers to
implement STIR/SHAKEN) (First Caller ID Authentication Order); Call Authentication Trust Anchor, WC Docket
No. 17-97, Second Report and Order, 36 FCC Rcd 1859, 1876-97, paras. 36-73, (providing implementation
extensions to certain providers) (Second Caller ID Authentication Order); Gateway Provider Order and Further
Notice, 37 FCC Rcd at 6886-894, paras. 51-63 (requiring gateway providers, a subset of intermediate providers, to
implement STIR/SHAKEN); Call Authentication Trust Anchor, WC Docket No. 17-97, Sixth Report and Order and
Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, FCC 23-18 (Mar. 17, 2023) at paras. 15-27 (2023 Caller ID Authentication
Order) (requiring non-gateway intermediate providers that receive unauthenticated calls directly from originating
providers to authenticate calls with STIR/SHAKEN by December 31, 2023); 47 CFR §§ 64.6301, 64.6302, 64.6304.
STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication helps confirm that the caller ID is not spoofed, or otherwise provides
information regarding what the signing voice service provider knows to be true about the caller and its right to use
the number. Protocols developed by the Secure Telephony Identity Revisited (STIR) working group of the Internet
Engineering Task Force (IETF) work with the Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs
(SHAKEN) implementation standards created by the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS)
and the SIP Forum. See First Caller ID Authentication Order, 35 FCC Rcd 3241, 3244-46, paras. 5-10.
24
Sumco Panama SA, et al , EB File No. EB-TCD-21-00031913, Forfeiture Order, FCC 23-64, at 12-13, paras. 25-
26 (Aug. 3, 2023) (Sumco Forfeiture Order).
25
One Eye LLC, EB Docket No. 22-174, Final Determination Order, DA 23-389, at 1, 2-3, paras. 1, 5 (May 2023)
(One Eye). More recently, issued an Initial Determination Order against One Owl Telecom for the apparent
transmission of illegal traffic. One Owl Telecom Inc., EB Docket No. 22-174, Initial Determination Order, DA 22-
174 (Sept. 2023).
26
See generally Targeting and Eliminating Unlawful Text Messages, Rules and Regulations Implementing the
Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, CG Docket Nos. 02-278, 21-402, Report and Order and Further Notice
of Proposed Rulemaking, FCC 23-21 (Mar. 17, 2023) (Text Blocking Order and Further Notice). Previously, the
Commission’s Enforcement Bureau had investigated instances of robotexting. See, e.g., Emanuel (Manny)
Hernandez, Click Cash Marketing, LLC, and Rock Solid Traffic, Citation and Order, Unauthorized Text Message
Violations, 33 FCC Rcd 12382 (EB 2018) (Hernandez); Public Notice, FCC Enforcement Advisory, Robotext
Consumer Protection, Text Message Senders Must Comply With The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 31 FCC
Rcd 12615 (EB 2016).
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The NANP is the basic numbering scheme for the telecommunications networks located in American Samoa,
Anguilla, Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, Dominica,
Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Maarten, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Turks
& Caicos Islands, Trinidad & Tobago, and the United States (including Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam,
and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands). 47 CFR § 52.5(d).