October 5, 2021
The FCC is proposing new requirements for domestic gateway providers that allow calls from outside the U.S.
A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) adopted on Thursday and published on Friday requires gateway phone companies to implement STIR (Secure Telephone Identity Revisited) and SHAKEN (Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs) standards that verify the accuracy of caller ID by using digital certificates based on public key cryptography.
STIR/SHAKEN is already widely used in IP networks in the U.S. due to different requirements that apply to large telephone providers. Another new rule prohibits telephone companies from accepting calls from providers that do not yet meet the requirements for using STIR/SHAKEN or other methods of mitigating robocalls.
The NPRM also proposes a new call-blocking requirement. When the FCC notifies a gateway provider of an ongoing robocall campaign, the provider would “a prompt investigation to determine whether the traffic identified in the Enforcement Bureau’s notice is illegal” and “promptly block all traffic associated with the traffic pattern identified in that notice.”
The NPRM is asking for public comments on these new rules. Deadlines for initial comments will be 30 days after the publication of the NPRM in the Federal Register and 60 days after publication for comments.
Although STIR/SHAKEN is now common on the IP networks of major phone companies, carriers with 100,000 or fewer subscribers have until June 30, 2023 to implement the technology, and the FCC asked for a comment in May on a plan to set that date exactly one year earlier.
For more information, you may view the original story from Arstechnica.
