Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster and Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller led 43 other state attorneys general in calling on five major phone companies to offer call-blocking technology to their customers, according to a news release.
In a joint letter to the chief executives of the companies, the attorneys general said a new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rule clarification allows telecommunication service providers to offer customers the ability to block unwanted calls. It also verifies federal law does not prohibit offering the services.
Koster said phone carriers had previously claimed they could not offer such services. At a July 2013 hearing before a Senate subcommittee, representatives from the US Telecom Association and CTIA testified "legal barriers prevent carriers from implementing advanced call-blocking technology to reduce the number of unwanted telemarketing calls."
Koster said call-blocking options already exist for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone service (NoMoRobo.com) and Android cell phones (Call Control), and the phone carriers should move quickly to implement and inform their consumers of these options.
Last September, 39 attorneys general, led by Koster and Zoeller, called on the FCC to allow phone companies to utilize call-blocking technologies. In June, Deputy Attorney General Joe Dandurand testified before the FCC in support of the rule clarification. The FCC chairman endorsed the request in late May, and the FCC voted to pass the rule clarification on June 18.