LAWMAKERS ARE GOING AFTER ROBOCALLS: Lawmakers heard from one of the most prolific alleged robocallers as they weigh new actions to cut down on the fraudulent phone calls.
{mosads}Senators grilled a Florida man who is accused of making 96 million robocalls during a hearing Wednesday focused.
Adrian Abramovich of Miami, who faces a $120 million fine from regulators, gave his side of the story and insight into robocalling to members of the Senate Commerce Committee.
Robocalls, or automated solicitation calls, often attempt to trick consumers into giving over personal information or money.
According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Abramovich’s robocalls offered vacation deals from prominent companies like Marriott, Hilton and TripAdvisor. But those who sought more information were forwarded to a call center where operators attempted to sell them packages from unaffiliated resorts.
Lawmakers were eager to scold Abramovich.
“Unwanted, abusive and illegal robocalls have got to stop,” said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.).
Why today was different: We’re used to hearing lawmakers and regulators blast robocalls. Everyone, regardless of political stripe, loathes the nuisance calls.
But Abramovich gave rare insight from the other side.
For example, he explained to lawmakers that the practice of spoofing, tricking people into believing a call is from a local area code, is “very easy.”
“Spoofing is very easy. You can do that in a day. It’s very simple. So if those carriers allow all those calls to go through, the major networks won’t see that the calls are coming from a robocaller,” Abramovich said.
And he let lawmakers know the scope of the problem. He explained that one person, with some technical support, can easily make 10,000 calls a day.
Abramovich also conceded that this issue can likely only be fixed with legislation.
Throughout the hearing though he defended his own business practices, insisting he did nothing illegal.
And here’s your legislation: Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) alongside several other lawmakers introduced legislation on Wednesday to tackle the issue. The bill is titled the Robocall Enforcement Enhancement Act of 2018.
From Schatz: “If there is one thing Americans can agree on, it’s that robocalls often cross the line… With this bill, the FCC will have the time and authority it needs to keep abusive robocalls in check.”
There’s a letter too: Democratic senators also piled onto a letter spearheaded by Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) calling on the Federal Communications Commission to do more to stop robocalls in light of a recent D.C. Circuit Court’s decision striking down certain portions of a 2015 agency regulation restricting robocalls.
“Without swift and robust action by the FCC to ensure these sensible protections are in place, consumers may lose the right to both provide and revoke consent, subjecting them to a deluge of unwanted calls and texts,” lawmakers wrote.
This could be one area where Democrats might actually see some action from Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. The FCC last year adopted new rules to help restrict some robocalls.
Tune in for more action: The House Energy and Commerce Committee is set to take up the issue with its own separate hearing on the matter. The hearing was scheduled for Thursday, but has been postponed to a yet-to-be determined date.
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TIME WARNER CEO TAKES THE STAND: Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes defended his company’s $85 billion merger with AT&T in court Wednesday, arguing that the deal is needed to take on internet giants.
The Justice Department has been arguing that the merger would hurt competition because the combined company could withhold Time Warner’s content from competitors. Bewkes dismissed that theory, arguing that the companies want the programming distributed as widely as possible to rake in ad dollars.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” Bewkes said. “If our channels are not in distribution we lose lots of money [from subscriptions and advertising].”
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson is expected to testify on Thursday.
FACEBOOK PREPARES FOR EU DATA RULE: Facebook announced some new changes to its privacy settings on Wednesday ahead of next month’s rollout of a sweeping internet data law in the European Union.
What will change: The changes are largely intended to make sure users are aware of existing privacy settings, like the ability to make sure Facebook isn’t using data from certain partnered websites to track users and target ads at them.
What won’t change: According to Reuters, Facebook also told reporters at its headquarters that users will still have to submit to targeted ads once the General Data Protection Regulation goes into effect on May 25.
“People can choose to not be on Facebook if they want,” said Rob Sherman, Facebook’s deputy chief privacy officer.
SENATORS PUSH DHS FOR INFO ON ‘STINGRAYS’: A group of senators is calling on the Department of Homeland Security to release more information on cell phone tracking devices in Washington.
“The American people have a legitimate interest in understanding the extent to which U.S. telephone networks are vulnerable to surveillance and are being actively exploited by hostile actors,” the bipartisan group wrote in a letter to DHS official Christopher Krebs.
Among those who signed the letter are Sens. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.).
In a letter to Wyden earlier this month, DHS confirmed for the first time the presence of cell-site simulators, sometimes referred to as Stingrays, which can eavesdrop on mobile phone conversations, throughout DC.
INTERNET TRADE GROUP ADDS DIVERSITY DIRECTOR: The Internet Association, a trade group representing tech giants like Facebook and Google, is hiring a new executive in charge of diversity and inclusion as the industry it represents confronts questions about its own lack of representation.
Sean Perryman, a former House Oversight Committee staffer, “will lead and coordinate IA’s advocacy efforts around diversity, inclusion, and workforce-related policies at the local, state, and federal level,” IA said in a press release.
“It’s critical that our industry better engages on issues of diversity, technology, and workforce policy at every level of government,” Melika Carroll, senior vice president of global government affairs at the Internet Association, said of Perryman’s hire.
DATA READ OF THE DAY: BuzzFeed’s Charlie Warzel, using researcher Joe Hovde’s data, takes a look at how sentiment on Facebook is turning negative, by tallying the critical words used about the company in news stories.
Hovde’s research focuses on The New York Times, The Guardian and BuzzFeed. Each shows a downward trend but with some interesting twists.
ON TAP:
The American Bar Association will hold its 33rd annual Intellectual Property Law Conference at 7:00 a.m.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on robocalls and caller ID spoofing at 10:00 a.m.
The Information Technology Innovation Foundation will hold an event on drones and public safety at 1:00 p.m.
CTIA, a trade association representing wireless companies, will hold its Race to 5G Summit at 1:00 p.m.
The American Enterprise Institute will have a conversation with Republican FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly at 2:00 p.m.
The Federal Communications Bar Association holds an event on autonomous vehicles at 3:00 p.m.
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