US State Attorneys General Form Nationwide Anti-Robocalling Task Force
To stop the robocall scourge, state attorneys general across the US are forming an “Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force” to tackle the problem using legal action.
On Tuesday, state AGs in New York, California, and Texas announced(Opens in a new window) the task force, which appears to involve prosecutors from all 50 US states.
The task force's goal is to investigate and sue telecom companies responsible for facilitating robocalls from foreign countries. “With this new task force, attorneys general nationwide are teaming up to cut down on illegal robocalls—and we're taking this fight directly to the telecom companies who are enabling them,” said(Opens in a new window) California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
The task force says it’s already issued “civil investigative demands to 20 gateway providers and other entities that are allegedly responsible for a majority of foreign robocall traffic.” This means the state prosecutors have subpoenaed the companies for information, which could lead to a court-filed complaint.
None of the gateway providers were named. But the companies act as on-ramps for foreign phone calls to reach US networks. The task force now claims many gateway providers “appear to be intentionally ignoring illegal robocall traffic in return for steady revenue.”
“If the telecom industry refuses to create and comply with reasonable regulations, then our Task Force will demand compliance,” said(Opens in a new window) Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein noted(Opens in a new window) he's already brought one lawsuit against a Texas-based gateway provider, Articul8, for allegedly routing numerous suspected robocalls calls to residents in his state. "Articul8 profited by
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