There were 5,120,760,600 robocalls in the U.S. - LAST MONTH.
There were 51,229,085,300 robocalls in 2022.
That averages out to roughly:
140.4 million per day, 5.8 million per hour, and 1624 per second.
And yes, as you might expect, despite legislative efforts, the number of calls increased from 2020-2021 and from 2021-2022!
(Numbers courtesy of Robocall Index)

If you're like most Americans, you're probably ready for SOMEONE to do SOMETHING about these incessant calls. Here's the sad part... They already did... But 31 years later, the law is outdated, and needs to be revamped to reflect modern technology, and mountains of case law. This petition is designed to shine a light on the need for immediate action by Congress, to help curtail what a former FCC chair once called a "scourge" on the American public, by updating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, or "TCPA."

For years, robocalls - both, those for legitimate goods and services, and those with the sole purpose of theft of money or information - represent one of the largest categories of consumer complaints to federal agencies. And while attempts at legislative change have been well-intentioned, they have repeatedly fallen flat, especially at the federal level. They left too many loopholes for nefarious callers and the telecommunications carriers that afford them an unencumbered pathway to our phones.

Most recently, the "STIR-SHAKEN" was supposed to help bring an end to the calls, by making "spoofed" numbers more easily identifiable. While it does help identify the calls in some cases, it isn't fool proof by any means, and does nothing to actually stop them. Moreover, because it took so long to implement (it still isn't entirely implemented) illegal callers were able to devise a number of very effective workarounds, long before implementation even began... And they continue to do so today!

In 1991, the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act was passed with full bipartisan support in Congress, and signed into law by George H.W. Bush.  Its original, primary intent was to thwart marketing via fax, as businesses and consumers were being sent faxed solicitations for many of the very same things we're currently being called for, like insurance and travel. Because cellular service, a new concept at that time, represented another new way for marketers to gain access to our ears, the TCPA included provisions to protect against unsolicited telemarketing calls to those numbers as well. Eventually, the National Do Not Call Registry was created and it became the place for consumers to make absolutely clear that they didn't wish to receive these kinds of calls. Again, a great idea on paper, but it has continued to prove largely fruitless.

Congress, and some states, have tried to enact laws to shore up existing loopholes in the TCPA. Some have proven more effective that other, but there still remain far too many of these loopholes, and an increasing number of  inconsistencies between state and federal laws has created much confusion. This leaves many cases, brought at both the state and federal level, subject to very subjective interpretation by judges at all levels, which in turn allows the onslaught of illegal robocalls to continue, and the purveyors of these calls to continue to operate with relative impunity. 

That's why it's time that Congress acted to update the TCPA to eliminate the loopholes, and truly fulfill the statute's original intent, which was, in large part, to prevent the unwanted invasion of privacy that these incessant illegal robocalls represent!

With respect to some of the changes that should be considered, we offer the following five things as the basis of a very good start for the discussion:

1. Update relevant definitions for things like "automated telephone dialing equipment". A 2021 Supreme Court ruling narrowed the definition of what an ATDS is, and in so doing, basically eliminated a significant part of the civil remedies available to consumers in the event that they were called without the necessary consent.
2. Increase the monetary penalties available to consumers in the event of their having successfully brought a claim in a state or federal court. In 1991, the law granted a $500 statutory penalty for each violation of the statute, with that penalty trebled (tripled) in the event of a "willful" violation. Unfortunately, the "willful" violations have all but disappeared in court settlements, because of grey areas in the language of the original statute. We would like to see the statutory penalty be increased to reflect both the volume of calls, as well as the overall magnitude of the problem. Many illegal robocallers see the nominal penalties as "a cost of doing business", often equating it to a regular business expense.
3. Allow consumers to recover reasonable attorney's fees for successful TCPA claims. One of the biggest challenges faced by consumers these days is that the cost of litigation in TCPA claims can be high, and while an illegal robocalling enterprise might easily afford to litigate, often using in-house counsel, many affected consumers cannot. Because the statutory penalties are so low, consumers can often expect to spend more on an attorney than the violations themselves are worth. This acts as a disincentive for both consumer and the attorneys who might otherwise be inclined to represent them... A fact that is well-recognized, perhaps even utilized, by defense counsel, whose main goal is to discourage cases against their clients. Effectively, illegal robocallers have many options for defense counsel, provided by boutique firms created to protect them, even when they're operating outside of the law, consumers have far fewer options, even further emboldening those who operate outside of the law. This leaves consumers, often acting as pro se (unrepresented by counsel) plaintiffs, to seek their justice in small claims courts, many of which have jurisdictional limits that are far below the average amounts available by the TCPA. Also, defendants frequently "remove" cases to higher courts, which, in the absence of affordable plaintiff's counsel, almost invariably leads to a dismissal, or a loss in a more formal state or federal court. Many of these same defense attorneys have started attacking the intent and character of plaintiffs who've finally begun to stand up for their rights by referring to them as "professional plaintiffs, and serial litigators, simply because they've held accountable those who've broken the law! In the presence of competent counsel, such defamatory, slanderous, and libelous behavior would likely see a dramatic decline.
4. Tighten  the rules regarding "consent" to telemarketing calls. Often, consumers are tricked into giving consent, either by way of super fine print, buried in the terms and conditions, on websites that serve no purpose but to get consent. Why not make rules about the  consent language a part of the statute itself?
5. Make clear rules regarding text messaging. Because SMS text messaging wasn't in use commercially at the time the TCPA was drafted and passed, we rely very heavily on case law, with various courts' interpretations often varying wildly from court to court. It's time for the law to catch up with changes in technology, and text messaging is one of the most obvious starting points.

As a consumer advocate with years of experience, both in the trenches, and at a technological level, I have seen the damage that these calls do. In my efforts to educate people in an effort to solve this problem, I have heard heart-wrenching stories about the kinds of losses the've created in millions of families in this country. Having spent the last several years of my life working very specifically on this problem, I can tell you that the ONLY THING that gets the illegal robocallers' attention is hitting them in the pocketbook. I am committed to seeing Congress further empower the people to do just that, and seeing a change that benefits not only consumers, but also legitimate sales and telemarketing businesses that are given a bad name by those who run afoul of the law in their daily business operations.

Do you agree that, it's time to
"TELL CONGRESS THAT IT'S TIME TO STOP ROBOCALLS?"