Major phone companies across the United States pledged Thursday to help state attorneys general crack down on robocalls by implementing new technology and taking additional steps to block unwanted calls.
Twelve telecom companies and attorneys general from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. have agreed to the voluntary pact, which establishes eight steps the companies will take to prevent robocalls and aid enforcement efforts.
Americans receive more than 5 billion robocalls each month and the calls aren’t just an annoying nuisance, as some are vehicles for nefarious actors seeking access to customers’ personal data.
“By signing on to these principles, industry leaders are taking new steps to keep your phone from ringing with an unwanted call,” said North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein in a statement announcing the agreement. “They’ve also agreed to do more to help other state attorneys general and me track down the scammers and fraudsters responsible so that we can keep them from preying on people.”
The 12 carriers are AT&T, Verizon Communications, T-Mobile USA, Sprint, CenturyLink, Bandwidth, Charter Communications, Frontier Communications, U.S. Cellular, Windstream Services, Comcast, and Consolidated Communications.
The companies will implement free call-blocking technology, monitor their networks for robocall traffic, and implement the SHAKEN/STIR caller ID authentication framework that can differentiate between real and spoofed calls.
Attorneys general have previously called on Congress to crack down on robocalls and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) took action earlier this year phone companies state attorneys general combat robocalls
