Federal Communications Commission	"FCC  XX-XXX"


STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER BRENDAN CARR

Re: 	Call Authentication Trust Anchor, WC Docket No. 17-97; Implementation of TRACED Act Section 6(a)—Knowledge of Customers by Entities with Access to Numbering Resources, WC Docket No. 20-67.

The American people are sick and tired of illegal robocalls.  And they are more than just an intrusion on our daily lives.  Scam artists, who target the American people with scare tactics, continue to plague consumers, as it’s reported that over $10 billion was lost in 2019 due to robocall and spoofing scams. Techcrunch, Spam Calls Grew 18% in 2019, https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/03/truecaller-spam-call-robocall-report-2019/.
  I, like many others, rarely even bother to pick up my phone if the number is not already in my contacts.  
Robocalls are the number one complaint we receive at the FCC, and this Commission has made it our number one enforcement priority.  We’ve undertaken thorough investigations, issued massive fines, and expanded our reach overseas in the pursuit of the offenders.  In addition to our own actions, we have empowered the private sector to combat these illegal calls.  And while I’m happy to see the tools that industry has developed, there is still much more work to be done to fully implement them.  
Today we move the ball forward on combating the illegal robocalls that Americans demand be stopped.  We will require carriers to implement an industry-developed framework called STIR/SHAKEN to empower consumers by letting them know that the caller really is (or isn’t) who they say they are.  And for those carriers whose networks can’t currently implement STIR/SHAKEN, we propose that they must at a minimum implement robocall mitigation programs to identify and block these large-scale robocall campaigns.  We will not sit idly by as fraudsters exploit consumers, and our actions today will help restore consumers’ faith in the voice network.  And maybe we’ll begin answering our phones again. 
I want to thank the Wireline Competition Bureau, the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, the Enforcement Bureau, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, the International Bureau, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, and the Office of Economics and Analytics as well as the General Counsel’s Office for your dedicated work on this item.  Together we can combat these calls on multiple fronts.  This item has my full support.


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