FCC Goes After Cell Phone Robocallers

　　The Federal Communications Commission is cracking down on two firms accused of making more than one million unauthorized robocalls to wireless phones.
　　The agency issued citations to Dialing Services and Richard Gilmore's Democratic Dialing, both of which made in excess of one million automated telemarketing calls to mobile phones without permission in 2011 and 2012.
　　"Consumers have increasingly been sounding the alarm on robocalls, rightly complaining about unwanted, intrusive cell phone calls and text messages from strangers, or worse yet computers

," Michele Ellison, chief of the FCC's Enforcement Bureau, said in a statement. "These citations set the stage for significant monetary penalties if violations continue."
　　FCC rules and the Communications Act ban robocalls to wireless phones unless they are relaying emergency information

or the recipient has given the caller permission to do so. None of the calls made by Dialing Services or Democratic Dialing were related to emergencies and none of the people the FCC polled had given either company permission to contact them.
　　The citations require both companies to stop the robocalls in the next 15 days, and include the proper identification in any authorized calls they make in the future. If they fail to comply, the firms could face up to $4.8 million in fines for this particular investigation. Overall, however, unauthorized robocalls could cost companies up to $16,000 per call.

　　This comes about a year after the FCC approved rules that made it more difficult for companies to use robocalls.

　　Back in October, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) kicked off its FTC Robocall Challenge, which will offer $50,000 to the person or team who can come up with a way to stop annoying, robotic calls. The effort is the first contest hosted on Challenge.gov, an online platform that invites people to submit ideas for how best to solve pressing government challenges. Winners will be announced in April.
　　In April, meanwhile, the FTC handed down a $30 million civil penalty against two robocallers, the largest penalty ever imposed for violations of the Do-Not-Call Registry.

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