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The Federal Communications Commission released a plan to require cell phone operators to block a wide variety of illegal text messages.
“In this Notice of Proposed Rules (NPRM), we propose requiring wireless cellular service providers to block illegal text messages, building on our ongoing work to prevent illegal and unwanted robocalls,” the FCC order states. “Specifically, we propose requiring cellular wireless carriers to block netpainting-level SMS messages claiming to be from invalid, unassigned or unused numbers and numbers on a Do-Not-Original (DNO) list. “These texts “are likely to be illegal,” the FCC said.
NPRM is a public comment on the plan. Once the NPRM is published in the Federal Register, there will be 30 days for comments and another 15 days for comments in response. After that, the FCC can draft new requirements for cell phone carriers and hold a final vote.
“Other Americans are fed up with fraudulent texting and we will have to use any and all tools at our disposal to fix it,” said FCC Chairman Jessica Rosenworcel. “Recently, fraudulent text messages have an increasing risk to consumers’ wallets. “and privacy. More can be done to address this developing challenge and today we are officially launching an effort to take a serious, complete and completely new look at our policies to fight unwanted robot texts. “
In addition to commenting on the proposed rules, the FCC order seeks broader comment on the factor of forged text messages. can leverage the Commission to inspire providers to identify and block texts that appear to come from counterfeit numbers,” the FCC said.
The FCC also requested comment “on the application of caller ID authentication criteria to text messaging. “
The timing of NPRM’s release is curious, as commissioners may have voted at any time in the past 11. 5 months. The item was distributed through Rosenworcel to commissioners on Oct. 18, 2021, according to the FCC’s list of notable items.
When the FCC chairman circulates an article, commissioners can vote as soon as they are ready. The NPRM, “Targeting and Removing Illegal Text Messages,” is the oldest on the list of published articles.
An Axios report said today that the vote after all ended after a reporter asked why it took so long. had not moved on the issue,” the article said, noting that he had “been waiting for a vote at the FCC for nearly a year. “
NPRM’s spam text was approved Friday and made public today. The vote would have been 4-0, meaning Democrats and Republicans agreed.
We asked Rosenworcel’s office and the other commissioners today about the main points of when members voted. Democratic Commissioner Geoffrey Starks “voted on this well before Friday,” Starks’ Ars office said.
A spokesman for Rosenworcel said the president’s office referred to commissioners to see if they wanted to reveal the timing of their votes, but also said the automatic text proposal had won “strong support” from Rosenworcel since he proposed it.
Republican FCC member Brendan Carr did not say when he voted, but told Ars in an email, “This is a smart article, and the FCC will issue an order about it soon. I can tell you I was not dragging [my] feet on it. “
It’s unclear when Republican Nathan Simington voted. We will update this article if we get new data on the voting calendar. The FCC still does not have a Democratic majority because of the Senate over Biden’s nominee, Gigi Sohn.
Complaints about spam are on the rise. NPRM said the FCC “received approximately 14,000 court cases from clients about unwanted text messages, representing a nearly 146 percent increase over the number of court cases last year. “2022.
“Unwanted SMS has the same thing as unwanted calls: they invade customer privacy and are vectors of fraud and identity theft,” the FCC said.
Robbcalls remains a bigger challenge in terms of general complaints, however, the FCC found that SMS scams provide more noticeable damage with robocalls. NPRM describes how spam emails use phishing and malware to defraud victims:
Text messages may come with links to well-designed phishing websites that resemble a valid company’s online page and trick the victim into offering non-public or financial information. Text links can also load unwanted software, adding malware that steals passwords and other credentials, onto a device. Fraudulent text messages, such as fraudulent calls, can involve illegal caller ID spoofing, i. e. falsifying caller ID credentials that appear on the caller’s phone with the intent to defraud, damage, or incorrectly download something of value. In 2020, scammers stole more than $86 million through SMS fraud schemes. The average amount stolen from consumers in such scams was $800.
On July 28, the FCC issued a customer alert related to the accumulation of automated text scams to defraud customers.
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