While politics can be a touchy subject for some, we think most will agree that unsolicited political robocalls may be amongst the most unwelcome of all robocalls. And on that note, it looks like the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has recently begun to crack the whip. Specifically, the FCC has cited two marketing companies for making millions of illegal robocalls.
These calls were for both sides, the Republican and Democrat and were made to mobile phones over the course of two years, 2011 and 2012. As one would expect, both firms have been ordered to stop. The key here, as pointed out by NBC News, is that political robocalls “are allowed to most landline telephone numbers if certain rules are followed.”
Mobile devices on the other hand are not allowed unless the person receiving the call has given prior permission. Well, that or the call is being made for an emergency situation. According to the FCC, “consumers have increasingly been sounding the alarm on robocalls.” And in this particular case, the FCC has cited Dialing Services of Roswell, New Mexico and Democratic Dialing of Aurora, Colorado.
As part of the investigation the FCC spoke with 20 people who had received these calls — none of which had given permission. At this point these look to be citations only. Michele Ellison, chief of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau did say that “these citations set the stage for significant monetary penalties if violations continue.” As to the potential violations, the maximum penalty is $16,000 per call.
