The Senate has passed the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act, a bill aimed at fighting the scourge of unsolicited robocalls.
The House of Representatives passed the bill earlier this month, and the President is expected to sign the bill into law within days.
TRACED includes two key components: First, the FCC will now be empowered to fine robocallers up to $10,000 for each call. Second, US wireless companies will be required by law to implement “call authentication technologies” such as STIR/SHAKEN, a new protocol that fights caller-ID spoofing by securely confirming call metadata (caller ID). Major carriers have already started to deploy STIR/SHAKEN, at the urging of the FCC.
