REMARKS OF
COMMISSIONER JESSICA ROSENWORCEL
ROBOCALL STRIKE FORCE MEETING
OCTOBER 26, 2016
Picture this: small town, western Connecticut.  It’s quaint and quiet.  It’s where Catherine 
Larson perks up every time the phone rings.  Her son is serving in the Navy in a war zone many 
time zones away.  He’s a member of the Submarine Service and spends months at a time 
underwater, in perilous seas on the opposite side of the world.  She doesn’t know exactly where 
her son is deployed, when he will be able to call, or what number he will be calling from.  So she 
jumps to answer every phone call, hoping for the chance to speak with him—and fearing what 
news a single call can bring.  
I met Catherine last year with Senator Richard Blumenthal in Hartford.  She described 
why calls are so important to her household and so many others like hers with family members 
who wear the uniform.  She relayed how every call could be the call but how too many are just 
robocalls.  So night after night she answers the phone only to hear from scam artists offering her 
things she did not ask for, does not want, and does not need.  But shutting off her line, changing 
her number—it’s not an easy option—for people like her who have family members on active 
duty.  
That’s brutal.  We talk a lot about the inconvenience, the hassle, the annoyance of 
robocalls—and the economic cost.  But as Catherine’s story makes clear there is a human cost. 
Two months ago the Chairman called on industry to fix the growing mess we have with
robocalls.  The companies in this room today answered the call.  Thank you for your service.  
Thank you for your report.  Thank you for what you have done to date—accelerating standards, 
testing Do-Not-Originate technology, and educating consumers.  
But let’s be honest, it’s not enough.  It’s not enough for military families waiting for calls 
from their loved ones.  It’s not enough for elderly folks who are targeted by fraudsters.  It’s not 
enough for young families with two parents with two jobs and too little time in the day who just 
want to sit down to dinner without interruption.  Count my household among them.  It’s not 
enough for every one of us who thinks we have signed up on the Do-Not-Call list and think it’s 
just another one of those government programs that is not working.  Count me among them, too.  
So no mission accomplished until the calls stop.  On that score I believe everyone in this 
room still has work to do.  If you were a member of the Chairman’s task force, double down on 
your efforts.  If you helped develop the list of long term deliverables, commit now to making 
them happen.  Work harder, faster, better.  And if you need to break things to get this done, just 
ask.  We will help you.  
So today let me offer my appreciation, but hold the applause.  I don’t think the 
Chairman’s strike force has fully met the mark.  There are no prizes for participation.  But there 
are rewards for everyone—military families included—if we keep at it, keep working, and get 
this done.