ANALYZING THE FCC S OPEN JUNE 18 MEETING:

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1 ANALYZING THE FCC S OPEN JUNE 18 MEETING: The Instant TCPA Clarification Reaction from Rozanne Andersen and Rip Harris

2 Disclaimer Disclaimer: Ontario Systems is a technology company and provides this presentation solely for general informational and marketing purposes. You should not rely on the content of this material for any other purpose or as specific guidance for your company. Ontario Systems advice, services, tools and products described herein do not guarantee compliance with any law or industry standard. You are ultimately responsible for your own company s actions and compliance efforts and should consult with your own legal and business advisors to obtain specific advice on your company s compliance, legal and other business needs. Despite Ontario Systems efforts to provide current and up-to-date information, you need to recognize that the information contained herein may become outdated quickly and may contain errors and/or other inaccuracies. The presenters and Ontario Systems assume no liability for typographical or other errors contained in the presentation and materials or for changes in the law affecting anything discussed herein. 2

3 Our Presenters Rozanne Andersen Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer Ontario Systems, LLC Keith Wier Attorney Bush & Ramirez, P.L.L.C. John Bedard Managing Attorney Bedard Law Group, P.C. Rip Harris Director, Product Management Ontario Systems, LLC 3

4 General Context & Observations FCC commissioners voted along party lines Voice vote split 3-2 FCC clearly used this petition as an opportunity to take all possible steps to stop robocalls and robotexts Manual contact system still left undefined Consumer consent carried the day Tough tone and tough day for legitimate businesses who contact consumers Service providers are expected to step up and offer consumers robo call blocking services Consumers need to have control over their communications 4

5 Review of FCC Declaratory Ruling What did we hear from FCC yesterday? Robocall blocking please, please Mr. Telecom ATDS definition broader, not narrower Transferred phone numbers one strike Consent, consent, oops no more consent Text messages you count too!

6 What We Heard Steps to stop robocalls: Consumers can rescind their consent in almost any way FCC is encouraging telecom providers to put in place robocall blocking technology that consumers can invoke Autodialer definition Statement: If dialing equipment has the capacity to autodial even with some modification seems to sweep up anything that includes software Could this device be used for auto dialing in the future? Consent is required if dialing from a set list of numbers isn t every system dialing from a list of numbers? But capacity is not unbounded will they help draw that line? 6

7 What We Heard - Continued Increased risk of litigation for legitimate businesses Text messages are clearly a call, and subject to same consent and restrictions significantly increases risk and cost for business to use this consumer friendly tool Does every message need an opt-out option in it? Businesses get one strike when calling a re-assigned number, and there is no comprehensive database. Call#2 = violation Current market solutions only provide a probabilistic evaluation of whether a cell belongs to the person you think it does. No plan for comprehensive database No explicit mention of increased enforcement leaving it to the courts, which means plaintiff s attorneys following the easy money 7

8 What We Heard There s Still More Wildcard comments: Rosenworcel: CallerID Spoofing. Is there something here beyond the current Truth in Caller ID act? Contract provisions regulating calls Positive notes: Application provider is not a maker of a call, as they are not creating the message. Interesting carve-outs: Banks, Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Prison Pay phone services Fraud alerts, healthcare & prescription reminders, etc. 8

9 Actions & Next Steps Look out for analysis of actual ruling Look at Phone Verification service Stop manual dialing on auto dial platforms Review your opt-out mechanisms for consumers Consent, consent consent 9

10 A Brief Word About Declaratory Rulings Procedurally speaking what is it? What are the Pros and Cons Who does it impact? Who must abide by it? Can the Order be appealed? 10

11 Thank You Rozanne Andersen Keith Wier John Bedard ext 244 Please contact John or Keith directly if you are seeking legal advice or have questions of that nature. Rip Harris If you have additional questions for any of our panelists please send them to and we will syndicate and respond accordingly. 11

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