// ARS TECHNICA — FINANZA
FCC plans robocall scorecard to grade phone companies on spam call blocking
Carrier scorecards may include call-blocking stats and data on customer complaints.
The Federal Communications Commission today said it will create a robocall mitigation scorecard to rate phone companies on how effectively they block illegal spam calls.
The scorecards could include call-blocking statistics along with data on customer complaints and enforcement actions. The FCC said scorecards could grade providers on a number scale, with letter grades, or by classifying providers as low risk, medium risk, or high risk.
“The Scorecard will empower consumers and encourage providers to continue to combat illegal robocalls by providing the public with an assessment of the effectiveness of voice service providers’ efforts to protect consumers from illegal robocalls,” the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau said in a public notice.
The proposed tool would rate wireless, wireline, and VoIP providers on efforts to block robocalls and their “actual results in protecting [consumers] from illegal robocalls,” the FCC said. “In practice, that means moving beyond a simple administrative checklist (i.e., did the provider file the right paperwork, did they offer the right tools) and toward a composite set of metrics that reflects both operational practices and measurable outcomes, including how often legitimate calls are blocked.”
Whether the tool is useful for consumers will depend on how it’s designed, how easy each provider’s scorecard is to find, and what data sources it relies on. The proposed scorecard would apply to domestic voice service providers with retail customers, but not telcos that operate solely as wholesale or intermediate providers.
“Combatting the scourge of illegal robocalls remains the FCC’s top consumer protection priority… As proposed in today’s public notice, the FCC aims to develop a scorecard that will give consumers more information about the measures providers are taking to fight illegal robocalls, and it will also incentivize providers to improve their efforts,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in a press release.
The FCC is seeking public comment on what sources of data to use for the robocall scorecard. FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, the commission’s only Democrat, said the “scorecard could increase consumer awareness of how providers fight illegal robocalls” if it includes “the right information.”
The robocall scorecard won’t be the first FCC initiative designed to give consumers useful data about telecom providers. The FCC requires Internet providers to display pricing information on publicly accessible broadband labels, though Carr recently led a vote to stop requiring that ISPs list all their discretionary fees on those labels.
Consumer advocacy groups are likely to weigh in on the call for public comments, and so are phone companies that won’t want the scorecards to rate them poorly. The docket is available at this FCC webpage.