Congress Passes Landmark TRACED Act to Combat Robocalls
The Senate approves the TRACED Act, giving the government new powers to prosecute robocallers and requiring carriers to offer free call-blocking tools. President Trump is expected to sign the first major anti-robocall legislation in decades.
The Senate approves the TRACED Act, otherwise known as the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement Act, to give the government new powers to prosecute robocallers. This legislation marks the first major anti-robocall bill to pass in decades. Under the new law, phone carriers must authenticate and block spam callers while providing these protective services to customers at no cost.
President Trump is expected to sign the bill into law, though consumers do not see immediate changes because it takes months to implement the required regulations. Even with this delay, supporters view the passage of the TRACED Act as a massive victory in the fight against unwanted phone interruptions.
The need for this legislation is clear, as the FCC reports that US consumers receive up to 350,000 unwanted calls every three minutes. While the FTC previously takes steps to crack down on spoof callers, law enforcement officials insist they need these additional tools to effectively track down and penalize persistent robocallers.