Campaign wants FCC to allow ringless voicemail robocalls

Millions more Americans could be flooded with robocall voicemail messages if the Federal Communications Commission agrees to a rule change.

Political campaigns, charities, businesses and robocall spammers could insert unlimited messages into people’s voicemail boxes without ringing first if the FCC agrees.

In addition, the proposal would allow the voicemails to be sent to millions of phones that currently are off-limits to robocalls under federal law.

Ringless voicemails are “non-intrusive,” according to the campaign of former U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Georgia, which is asking for the change.

The messages don’t disrupt people with long ringtones, do not rack up charges as phone minutes and texts may, and can be listened to at any time. Consumer advocates disagree. Ringless voicemail is just as “invasive, expensive and annoying” as calls and texts, they say.

Candidates are eager to find ways around the Telephone Consumer Protection Act that prohibits campaigns from auto-dialing cellphones unless voters opt in.

Almost two-thirds of Americans, or roughly 155 million people, own only a cellphone, the Perdue campaign said, meaning many voters are out of reach of pre-recorded campaign messages.

“(The) technology allows non-profit (get-out-the-vote) campaigns across the political spectrum to effectively reach a wide swath of potential voters to provide them with critical and timely election-related information,” Perdue’s campaign said in its FCC petition. “Contacted potential voters may listen to the voicemail as many times as they want, delete it, or ignore it, at no cost to them.”

Ringless voicemail could provide information such as where a voter’s nearest polling place is or how to complete a mail-in ballot, the campaign said.

“As a greater number of consumers opt to rely solely on wireless services, Democratic and Republican campaigns and political committees alike will require efficient and non-invasive meth

ods to reach potential voters on short timeframes,” the filing said.

But a group of consumer protection organizations opposes the measure.

Voicemail inboxes would become useless, filling with “unfettered,” “unstoppable” messages, National Consumer Law Center senior attorney Margot Saunders said.

Other groups that oppose the proposal include the Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, EPIC, National Association of Consumer Advocates, National Consumer Law Center and U.S. PIRG.

“If left unregulated, ringless voicemail messages regarding telemarketing, debt collection, and outright scams could easily overwhelm the voicemail boxes of consumers,” Saunders said.

Consumer reporter Rebekah L. Sanders investigates issues of fraud and abuse involving businesses, health care and government agencies. Contact her at rsanders@azcentral.com or follow her on Twitter at @RebekahLSanders.