A coalition of consumer and privacy groups petitioned to reverse a ruling that the federal government and its contractors have immunity from fines related to robocalls.
The National Consumer Law Center, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Consumer Federation of America and U.S. PIRG are among dozens of advocacy groups seeking to reverse the July 5 ruling by the Federal Communications Commission.
Broadnet Teleservices, the National Employment Network Association and RTI International prompted the ruling by seeking clarification about whether the federal law governing robocalls applies to federal contractors.
"If the commission does not reconsider and change its ruling in this proceeding, tens of millions of Americans will find their cell phones flooded with unwanted robocalls from federal means of stopping these calls and no remedies to enforce their requests to stop these calls," the National Consumer Law Center argued in the petition.
Eric Troutman, a lawyer at Dorsey & Whitney who defends clients in cases involving the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, said, "Consumer groups challenging Broadnet don't have much of a leg to stand on. The TCPA is pretty clear that calls placed by the government are not regulated by the statute."
Troutman said the ruling is correct because the federal government is not a "person" governed by the TCPA while the advocacy groups argue that the law does apply to contractors regardless of their agency status.
Meanwhile, robocalls are the No. 1 source of consumer complaints at the FCC, said Chairman Tom Wheeler.
"I have sent letters to the CEOs of major wireless and wireline phone companies calling on them to offer call-blocking services to their customers now – at no cost to you. Consumers want and deserve more control over the calls they receive," Wheeler said in a statement.
AT&T agreed July 25 to lead an industry strike force to develop an action plan for providing consumers with robocall-blocking solutions, and Wheeler strongly urged industry participants to join that effort by October.
