this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2024
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Robocalls with AI voices to be regulated under Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the agency says. I'm pretty sure this puts us on the timeline where we eventually get incredible, futuristic tech, but computers and robots still sound mechanical and fake.

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[–] lewdian69 125 points 9 months ago (4 children)

How does this get enforced though? They don't even enforce their no call list or cut down on junk robo calls as it is.

[–] linearchaos 68 points 9 months ago (8 children)

Don't undersell the FCC's rules around robocalling. No, we're still getting robocalls out the ass, but when it comes from US locations companies get their asses handed to them. The FCC is also the entity that's pushing the telcos to Make it possible to stop it from overseas sources. The new laws that went in place this year f***** up my twilio automation that was sending me SMS messages on server failures. All of a sudden I have a bunch of paperwork to fill out and a waiting list to be able to send an SMS via API.

If the FCC wasn't impeding robocalls as much as it is phones would be useless by now.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Man some of these are funny, bold and ironic

`` The FCC described the other 12 companies' attached "robocall mitigation plans" as follows:

Humbolt VoIP: "The robocall mitigation plan attached to its certification was a .PNG file depicting an indiscernible object." National Cloud Communications: "The robocall mitigation plan attached to its certification was a document titled 'Windows Printer Test Page' that was unrelated to robocall mitigation." Route 66 Broadband: "The robocall mitigation plan attached to its certification consisted of a signed declaration by the Company's CEO presented without additional content or context." Tech Bizz Solutions: "The robocall mitigation plan attached to its certification contained a letter, unrelated to robocall mitigation, from Harvard Business Services, Inc." 2054235 Alberta: "The robocall mitigation plan attached to its certification contained only the company's business address." Evernex: "The robocall mitigation plan attached to its certification was a .PNG file that depicted the filer's 'Taxpayer Profile' on a Pakistani government website." My Taxi Ride: "The robocall mitigation plan attached to its certification was a copy of an FCC public notice titled 'FCC Facilitates Review of Restoring Internet Freedom Record.'" (Restoring Internet Freedom was the title of the FCC's 2017 net neutrality repeal.) Nervill: The "attachment provided was a signature page on company letterhead with no substantive content or context." SIA Tet: "The robocall mitigation plan attached to its certification was a letter that stated: 'Unfortunately, we do not have such a documents.'" Textodog: "The robocall mitigation plan attached to its certification was a .PNG file that depicted a corporate icon." USA-Connect.net: "The robocall mitigation plan attached to its certification contained only a signature." Viettel Business Solutions: "The robocall mitigation plan attached to its certification was a promotional document titled 'Viettel Solutions: Making Smart Cities Vision a Reality.'"

``

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

For the past 2 weeks I have been getting calls from a company claiming to register companies for voice search optimization. I've repeatedly told them to stop calling me, to which they respond that the calls won't relent until I sign up with their service. I've been threatened, mocked, and just straight hung up on, so now I enjoy just waisting as much of their time as possible. I filed a complaint last week, so I'm just logging all their calls to increase the inevitable fine (they're US based, all of the agents are clearly American).

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Most robo calls are not illegal as long as you follow the rules the FTC laid down.

This would have ban AI generated voices, so regardless of the content of the robo call, if it used in AI voice it would be illegal.

[–] thantik 16 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I need a citation for this "most", because if I recall correctly, "most" people are getting the illegal kind of robo calls, not the legal kind.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] thantik 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Damn, you were the technically correct one here :D But it's a lot closer to 50/50 than I thought.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (7 children)

If the origin of the call is outside the US it's much harder to prosecute the illegal calls

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[–] _number8_ 75 points 9 months ago (2 children)

just fucking declare robocalls illegal, jesus

[–] Fedizen 28 points 9 months ago

politicians use them for campaigning so unlikely, but yeah they should ban robo calls that haven't been pre-authorized (having the pharmacy or whatever call should still be legal)

[–] kromem 59 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

It seems like most people are missing "under existing law"

Nothing is changing. The FCC is simply putting to a vote clarifying that "yes, the prohibitions regarding automated calling apply to AI generated voices too."

[–] Kbobabob 30 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I also read that as we ain't gonna do shit

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

No need to do shit.

[–] Smoogs 12 points 9 months ago

Yes just reaffirming that it’s just another law not enforced.

[–] [email protected] 58 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Let's just make robo calls illegal ok?

[–] [email protected] 27 points 9 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 53 points 9 months ago (3 children)

OK. Enforce it then.

Block all calls unless you can verify exactly who they're from. Block all overseas VOIP bullshit. Block calls from any country that doesn't have the same call verification rules.

[–] droans 13 points 9 months ago

Blame the Republicans in Congress.

It took until last May for the Senate to finally confirm the fifth Commissioner. Per law, they can't create new rules or regulations when there's a vacancy.

Have you noticed that 5G was getting faster and had more coverage until it more or less stopped last year? For the first time in history, Congress did not renew the FCC's spectrum auction authority. T-Mobile bought a lot of 2.5Ghz spectrum back in 2022 but the FCC couldn't grant it to them. It wasn't until a month and a half ago that they could use it... Because Congress passed a bill that granted the authority for auctions held prior to March 2023.

They've also tried going after the VOIP services that don't follow STIR/SHAKEN or allow robocallers. But they don't have enough funding to do much more than the minimum. For the very few that they can catch, they first provide a warning period for the company to remove robocallers and correct their systems. If that fails, the FCC then permits carriers to block the provider, but they can't mandate it.

Except even that's not enough. The FCC can't take actual legal action against the providers, only the robocallers. So quite often, the provider will just change their business name, list different fake people as their executives, and then rejoin the networks as if nothing ever happened. Look up One Owl Telecom - they've done this numerous times.

[–] girthero 4 points 9 months ago

But its too hard to implement! Give us money! (telecoms probably)

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 9 months ago (15 children)

If they banned all robocalling, wouldn't that solve it? Can a prioritisation of quality of life over marketing include the phone space? Four US states ban billboards. With an ad blocker, the internet is usable. Nitpicking which tactics can be used in robocalls won't hardly solve the vicious spread of misinformation in this way.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 9 months ago (1 children)

banned all robocalling

Oh, I didn’t realize this was literally Nazi Germany.

A slippery slope where the next thing you know, corporations aren’t people, they’re capping the unlimited anonymous campaign contributions, and ad-supported Neuralink requires informed consent.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago

Had me in the first half

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

I assume that banning all robocalls requires new legislation, whereas the regulation mentioned here didn't.

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[–] Treczoks 29 points 9 months ago (1 children)

And how is this going to deter scammers?

[–] Wizard_Pope 16 points 9 months ago
[–] [email protected] 25 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (5 children)

How about this: if I get a robocall advertising a product/service or a politician's campaign I get that product or service for FREE and if it's for a politician they lose $25k from their pac or Superfund for each report (which gets donated to their opponent)?

[–] mPony 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

yeah then you'll have even more GOC money funding fake "Democratic Party" robocalls.

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[–] profdc9 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Ngl, it's hard to get down a mountain on those things...

[–] mlg 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Scammers who are just recording their voice: "Oh ok we're good"

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The TCPA, a 1991 US law, bans the use of artificial or prerecorded voices in most non-emergency calls "without the prior express consent of the called party."

Prerecorded calls are not allowed too.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

Right, so in other words this will change absolutely nothing just like that 1991 law did.

[–] werefreeatlast 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

But, my car insurance? Who's going to be telling me about the extended warranty?

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[–] nutsack 8 points 9 months ago

didn't this happen a long time ago under Bill Clinton or something? what the fuck happened?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

Wow this is interesting, I didn't know there were existing limits on using prerecorded and generic (non-impersonating) robot calls. Including from campaigns but they have certain special limits.

I wonder if the CRTC has similar rules in Canada.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (2 children)

This has made me wonder.. have any other europeans ever had problems with these?

I don't recall ever having been called by a robot.

[–] Treczoks 7 points 9 months ago

One of the reasons might be that a) robo calls are illegal here, and b) if someone uses them, they are easy to hunt down.

I once got some robocalls, all of the same makeup telling me I had won a car and should call a premium number to claim it (Ha!). I just reported those numbers to the local equivalent of the FCC, and they took it down within days.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

We sometimes get weird scam-sms, but thats about it.
(We is my family, other people dont really talk about it with others that much)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Does this include google assistant making robocalls or answering my phone on my behalf? I sometimes use it to setup hair cut appointments.

[–] Spinny 4 points 9 months ago

Wait you can use Google Assistant to make calls? I just use it to filter out spam calls without answering.

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