Monty Solomon posted:
https://www.nixonpeabody.com/en/ideas/articles/2017/04/12/dc-circuit-rejects-fcc-attempt-to-expand-tcpa-protection
That act was about junk faxes, so not very relevant to today. What is relevant
to today is the reactions of our phony-baloney disingenuous and crooked FCC
Chairman.
Before seeing this news piece, I saw the Chairman's reaction to it:
https://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2018/db0316/DOC-349765A1.pdf
"Today's unanimous D.C. Circuit decision addresses yet another example of the
prior FCC's disregard for the law and regulatory overreach. As the court
explains, the agency's 2015 ruling placed every American consumer with a
smartphone at substantial risk of violating federal law. That's why I dissented
from the FCC's misguided decision and am pleased that the D.C. Circuit too has
rejected it.
"Instead of sweeping into a regulatory dragnet the hundreds of millions of
American consumers who place calls or send text messages from smartphones, the
FCC should be targeting bad actors who bombard Americans with unlawful
robocalls. That's why I'm pleased today's ruling does not impact (and, in fact,
acknowledges) the current FCC's efforts to combat illegal robocalls and
spoofing. We will continue to pursue consumer-friendly policies on this issue,
from reducing robocalls to reassigned numbers to call authentication to
blocking illegal robocalls. And we'll maintain our strong approach to
enforcement against spoofers and scammers, including the over $200 million in
fines that we proposed last year."
So, as have others, the Chairman is linking this antique act to spam phone
calls. Fair enough. That's the only way it can still be relevant. But where the
only issue with the act was whether or not people should be able to opt out
easily of all such junk faxes, or only unsolicited ones, is a big who cares.
What matters more is the way this Chairman expanded the words in that old act,
and what he wants to conclude from it.
So, he's doing it again. Every single time Chairman Pai complains about
"regulatory overreach," it is because he wants to shirk his responsibilities.
I've learned to expect that Chairman Pai is doing the exact opposite of what
his disingenuous rhetoric claims.
The classic example, of course, is how he wants to wash his hands of enforcing
telecom neutrality in this country, calling his crooked campaign "restoring
Internet freedoms." What a phony. The FCC's job, from the start, has been to
enforce telecom neutrality. Not to encourage the telecoms to block and degrade
legitimate businesses, only to favor a handful of telecom providers.
So this time, same phony-baloney rhetoric we have come to expect, pretending
that millions of Americans were at some sort of "risk," pretending he gives a
hoot about consumers, when in fact, he is only making it easier for the vermin
who inundate us with unsolicited calls. I've been noticing how these unwelcome
calls escalated while Chairman Pai has been in office, and it is just this sort
of crooked, backhanded behavior of the FCC that encourages them.
It is downright idiotic to think that the courts would go after individuals who
use speed-dialing on their phones. Honestly, too stupid for words. And yet,
unwanted marketing calls of all types, be they robocalls or by real people,
have been increasing, in spite of the do-not-call list. Anything that weakens
that do-not-call rule is bad news for all of us. As always, phony oily
rhetoric, pretending he's doing us a great favor, wow, he's actually keeping
all of us out of jail, while instead failing to do the job the taxpayer expects
him to do. Do your job! If you can't, resign!
Bert
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