Comment by Gary Palmer

We are also seeing a lot of unwanted and scam robotexts and AI-generated phone calls and text messages, including voice clones and deepfakes. According to the FCC, consumer complaints about unwanted text messages increased 500-fold between 2015 and 2022. Americans are frustrated, and understandably so. In 2019, the bipartisan Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence, or TRACED, Act was enacted to help reduce the flood of illegal robocalls. The TRACED Act allowed the FCC and law enforcement to impose stricter penalties for intentional violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, or TCPA, improved adoption of technical solutions like STIR and SHAKEN call authentication framework, and established a Federal interagency working group to combat illegal robocalls. As a result, U.S. telecommunications carriers have made progress implementing STIR/SHAKEN into their networks. This framework authenticates that phone calls are coming from legitimate phone numbers, which helps reduce the number of spoofed and illegal robocalls. Generally, to operate within the U.S., voice service providers must now implement robocall mitigation programs and file these plans in their STIR/SHAKEN compliance certifications in the robocall mitigation database overseen by the FCC. Moreover, in July 2020, the FCC recognized the USTelecom Industry Traceback Group as the single registered consortium to conduct private led traceback efforts that identified the source of an illegal robocall. The FCC has also taken measures to address the growing burden of unwanted and scam robotexts and abused AI technologies. Specifically, in March 2023, the agency adopted regulations targeting scam robotexts. In addition, industry actors have partnered with Federal agencies to launch new programs such as robotext tracing. Lastly, in August, the FCC proposed rules to protect consumers from AI-generated robocalls and robotexts. These are steps in the right direction, and I applaud the coordination we have seen thus far. Unverified source