We’re pretty good at staying on top of the trends here at TCPAWorld.com. (Remember that time we had the CEOS of YouMail and Hiya on our podcast the very same day the NCLC was testifying about their statistics in front of Congress?)
Well as luck, or careful planning, would have it last Thursday–the very day the FCC was unanimously approving the new default call blocking rules everyone’s talking about– we had Rebekah Johnson, founder of analytics company Numeracle, on Unprecedented to talk about the impact the new rule will have on callers. (Yes, this is the same Rebekah Johnson who was specifically cited by the FCC in edits made to the call blocking rule last week.)
Rebekah Johnson, CEO and Founder of Numeracle
As Rebekah explains, callers are now at the mercy of carrier analytics and need a resource to help assure the carriers recognize their calls as valid and legitimate. That’s where Numeracle comes in. But don’t take it from me– I don’t endorse vendor solutions around here–listen to the interview so you can understand what Numeracle can do now that carriers can begin blocking calls by default.
But Rebekah and I dive deep into the rule, not only discussing the historical context in which it is enacted, but also addressing the contours of the brave new world we now inhabit in which carriers may wield tremendous power over which calls do and do not connect. And while there has been much speculation that the carriers will focus first on blocking scam calls, Rebekah explains why the analytics likely to be employed in the near future aren’t even close to being perfect. That means there’s a real risk that legitimate callers–particularly debt collectors– are at risk of being frozen out.
But its not just debt collectors, folks. In one particularly stirring piece of the discussion, Rebekah explains how notifications sent to rape victims about the pending release of their attackers may end up blocked under the new “reasonable analytics” regime. Indeed, she likens the roll out of call blocking to her previous work assisting with the decommissioning of the nation’s weapons of mass destruction, and the parallels will shake you to the core.
The bottom line is this– the TCPA dictates what calls you can and cannot legally attempt, but the carriers are now in a position to determine which of your calls will or will not go through. If this issue impacts your operations you MUST listen to this interview with Rebekah– available here.
As Rebekah says: “ACT NOW!”
Before we get to the interview, however, the team breaks down the biggest TCPA news of the week, including a recent decision determining when a call is actually “made” under the TCPA, a critical new case out of Florida holding that contractual consent is irrevocable, and the Sixth Circuit’s smack down of a bid by a lawyer to bring repeat claims for calls to a landline phone.
Will these blocks also apply to text messaging?