• The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau issued a Public Notice seeking comment on a declaratory ruling filed by All About the Message, LLC (“AATM”), in which it asks that the Commission “declare that the delivery of a voice message directly to a voicemail box does not constitute a call” subject to the TCPA’s prohibitions on autodialers and pre-recorded and artificial voices. Alternatively, AATM seeks a retroactive waiver for AATM and its customers with respect to any voicemail messages it delivered by direct-to-voicemail insertion technology. Comments are due May 18, 2017, and reply comments are due June 2, 2017.

• Commissioner O’Rielly spoke at ACA International’s Washington Insights Conference on May 4, 2017. He discussed various reforms to the Commission’s TCPA rules that he hopes to see adopted under the Commission’s new leadership. He stressed that the TCPA was intended to protect consumers from illegal robocalls and abusive calling practices, but that all too often, the Commission’s approach has resulted in wanted or beneficial calls being considered harmful or a nuisance. He argued that (1) with regard to reassigned numbers, companies that follow industry practices to limit stray calls should be able to contact a person until they have actual knowledge that a number has been reassigned; (2) the Commission should not discriminate against valid telemarketing calls or texts from companies that make clear in their disclosures how a consumer’s information will be used and how to stop communications in the future; (3) the Commission should allow companies to include in their terms of service provisions stating that customers may receive promotional calls or texts; (4) the Commission must change the definition of an autodialer so that legitimate companies are not precluded from using modern dialing equipment; (5) the Commission should not prevent companies or government agencies from using third party contractors; (6) any new rules on revocation of consent should be standardized, clear, and convenient for consumers but also consistent with the standard best practices of legitimate companies; and (7) the Commission should focus its efforts on actual instances of harm and on stopping companies that are truly bad actors.

Part II - TCPA: Class Action and Litigation Updates May 2017