Consumer Groups Back Reassigned Number Database; Bandwidth Cites Shaken/Stir 'Gaps'

consumers and will reduce liability under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) for callers," said early comments of the National Consumer Law Center and six other groups Tuesday, in docket 17-59 on a Further NPRM (see 1803220028). Comments are due June 7. Callers using the reassigned number database will "significantly reach their intended recipients more successfully," the groups said. "However, it is essential ... to maintain liability for robocalls to cell phones made without consent. Without this liability, callers will not have sufficient incentive to use the database, and all of the good work by the FCC will be for nothing. Liability for making wrong-number calls gives callers reason to spend the time or the money to check the database to ensure that they are calling only numbers for which they still have consent." Bandwidth cited concern about "gaps" in Secure Handling of Asserted Information using toKENs/Secure Telephony Identity Revisited (Shaken/Stir) call authentication. It said industry ability to distinguish "valid end-user originated traffic" from illegal robocalls "will hinge critically on the adoption of a set of Telephone Number Proof of Possession (TN PoP) standards and best practices." The IP-based wholesale provider "is concerned that without the industry’s simultaneous adoption of TN PoP standards, IP-enabled services that rely upon underlying carriers will risk being improperly discriminated against," said a filing on a meeting with FCC staffers.