MASSIVE: R.E.A.C.H. Meets with FCC to Discuss V.2.0 Standards and Lay Groundwork for Petition to Stop Rampant Carrier Call Blocking

So just had a great meeting with bureau staff at the FCC today. These are really smart folks dedicated to trying to do the right thing to facilitate telecommunications in this nation.

While we don’t always see eye to eye on policy R.E.A.C.H. shares an absolute alignment with the Commission’s mission of keeping the phones safe for consumers and businesses alike. Yes, we need to stop unwanted robocalls– but we also need to keep ae telecommunications networks free from unwarranted call blocking and labeling.

BOOM!: INDUSTRY OFFICIALLY HAS NEW STANDARDS AS R.E.A.C.H. BOARD UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTS R.E.A.C.H. STANDARDS V. 2.0!!!

We spent the bulk of the meeting walking through the R.E.A.C.H. standards and explaining why the standards go above and beyond anything required by the regulators currently. Spent particular time talking through why ping post and auctions still have a place but that consumers must be connected with sellers on the basis of something more than who is willing to pay the most for a lead. As I explained this puts R.E.A.C.H. members ahead of regulators.

The Commission was interested in the scope of R.E.A.C.H. and its membership and I explained our ambition to be the delineator between good actors and bad actors in the industry. If a lead supplier isn’t willing to meet the consumer-friendly standards of R.E.A.C.H. that is a form of self-condemnation that the regulators should take note of IMO.

THING OF BEAUTY: R.E.A.C.H.’s FCC Comment on One-to-One Rule’s Impact on Small Business Is READY–And You’ll Love It

We also confirmed the Commission is still working on potential edits to the one-to-one rule in light of its impact on small businesses and I rekindled discussion of R.E.A.C.H.’s comment from earlier this year, paying particular attention to the “seller” vs. “entity” issue in light of insurance brokers who cannot buy a lead that says “Progressive” on the form if the broker might end up selling a superior policy offered by Geico (or vice versa.)

This is a real issue and the folks I talked to at the Allstate Mega Agent conference last month were DEEPLY concerned about it.

IN PICTURES: Allstate’s MEGA Agency Conference Lived Up To The Name–Here’s What I Learned (and some pics!)

Last, and perhaps most importantly, R.E.A.C.H. advised of its intention to file a petition asking the Commission to modify its carrier call blocking safeharbor to ban the blocking and labeling of calls that comply with the R.E.A.C.H. v.2.0 standards and, perhaps, more broadly a modification preventing the blocking of legal calls. This petition will afford an avenue for the Commission to modify the present “reasonable analytics” paradigm to assure that carriers are taking into account the consent afforded by consumers in making its blocking and labeling determinations.

DUDE TWILIO–KNOCK IT OFF! (And MEF just made the Czar’s bad side)

And yes the petition will seek relief on the SMS channel as well. We hope the days of carriers and aggregators arbitrarily stopping traffic based on the whims of an analyst depending on what they ate for breakfast that day will soon be behind us.

Formal ex parte will be filed shortly according to the Commission’s rules.

Feel free to reach out to discuss. (Pun!)

Chat soon.