Bipartisan bill curtailing overseas robocall scams receives Senate panel OK

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee has approved the Foreign Robocall Elimination Act, a bipartisan bill that would establish a public-private task force within the Federal Communications Commission to investigate foreign robocalling operations and propose policy solutions, reports CyberScoop.

The measure, sponsored by Sens. Peter Welch, D-Vt. and Ted Budd, R-N.C., would require the task force to study the origins and financial impact of robocall scams while ensuring legitimate communications are not disrupted. The bill also directs the FCC, the Federal Trade Commission, and the U.S. Attorney General to select members, including seven from the private sector.

It would assess the performance of the robocall mitigation database and STIR/SHAKEN authentication protocol, which came under scrutiny after a Biden voice-cloning incident in New Hampshire.

Two amendments were added to the measure, with the first requiring a $100,000 bond and FCC registration for telecoms, and another expanding the liability protections for firms that share call-tracing data.