In the wake of the Supreme Court’s narrow TCPA interpretation in Facebook v. Duguid, we anticipated states would adopt more stringent telemarketing laws. With the unanimous passage of Florida SB 1120 at the end of April, that expectation came closer to reality. Almost two months later, however, the legislature still has not presented the bill to Governor DeSantis for signature. [...]
If you are reading this blog, you’re probably already familiar with the U.S. Supreme Court’s April 1, 2021 opinion in Facebook v. Duguid. Facebook largely resolved the fundamental question of what an “Automatic Telephone Dialing Device” (ATDS) is as defined by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The statutory definition is “equipment which has the capacity (A) to store or [...]
All Voice Service Providers (VSPs) will be required to submit filings through the FCC’s Robocall Mitigation Database that launched on April 20, 2021. There are two types of filings required depending upon the VSP’s status. One filing is a Robocall Mitigation Plan (RMP), which documents a VSP’s policies and procedures to prevent illegal robocalls from being originated on their platform. [...]
Earlier this month, the California Supreme Court handed down a decision in Smith v. LoanMe interpreting California’s call recording statute, Cal. Penal Code 632.7. The decision clarifies that not only must non-participants to a call obtain consent from the parties to listen in on or record the call, but parties to the call must also obtain consent to record. Cal. [...]
“Oh, you should never, never doubt what nobody is sure about.” By now you have probably read dozens of articles from the usual pundits about the landmark U.S. Supreme Court TCPA decision, Facebook v. Duguid. The Opinion was fundamentally good for both businesses and consumers because it finally put to rest a debate that has echoed in the halls of [...]
Earlier today the United States Supreme Court issued the much-anticipated Opinion in Facebook v. Duguid. In a unanimous ruling, the Court held that “To qualify as an automatic telephone dialing system under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, a device must have the capacity either to store a telephone number using a random or sequential number generator, or to produce a [...]
The Federal Communications Commission announced a record forfeiture of $225M against two entities, Rising Eagle and JSquared Telecom as well as their owners, John C. Spiller and Jakob A. Mears. The FCC alleged these entities illegally transmitted over one billion calls as well as spoofed the caller ID on many of those calls. The entities focused on calls related to [...]
Today, the Federal Communications Commission published its Final Rule (“Rule”) based on its December 22, 2020 Report and Order (“Order”) in the Federal Register. That Order placed limitations on calls that had previously been exempted by the FCC (“Exempt Calls”), including limiting the number of calls to a residence or using a prerecorded or artificial voice. With its publication, certain [...]
The Federal Communications Commission’s Reassigned Numbers Database is set to commence on April 15th, 2021. On that date service providers must submit monthly reports detailing all disconnected and reassigned numbers. The April 15th compliance date marks the beginning of the FCC’s effort to build a robust database that will prevent inadvertent calls to reassigned numbers; however, the FCC intends to [...]
President Joe Biden has appointed Jessica Rosenworcel as the Acting chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), replacing outgoing chairman under the Trump administration, Ajit Pai. Rosenworcel will lead the agency until an official chair is confirmed. Rosenworcel is a familiar face with the FCC, having previously served as a staff member in the early 2000’s, and a commissioner for [...]
