A Change in Dialler Regulations for US Contact Centres

On April 1st the Supreme Court finally ruled on the long-running Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) dispute between Facebook and Noah Duguid.

Mr Duguid complained that he received a text message alerting to him someone logging into a Facebook account. However, in his complaint Mr Duguid states he has never held a Facebook account. Mr Duguid therefore alleged that Facebook broke the TCPA in sending the unsolicited text message through automated means, as the TCPA restricts the use of automated telephone dialling systems.

At the core of the argument is what is defined as automated dialling – whilst the TCPA explicitly mentions “random or sequential number generator”, the law has been liberally interpreted by other courts to apply to any automated dialler.

This decision from the Supreme Court now clarifies that TCPA does indeed only apply to systems which use a random or sequential number generator. Without a doubt, this is a huge win for the telemarketing industry and beyond.

Whilst this might seem like a wave of telemarketing activity is about to hit US consumers, the truth is the telecom industry has already been working on other tactics.

Technology such as SHAKEN/STIR which authenticates outbound telephone Caller IDs as being legitimate, and the Campaign Registry for outbound text messages are designed to allow legitimate use cases whilst preventing the deluge of spam and robo calls.

The future is brighter for both consumers and legitimate contact centres. The truth is many consumers have simply stopped answering their phones due to the sheer volume of spam.

In removing the bad actors from the marketplace, restoring confidence in Caller ID being genuine, and reducing the volume of spam – consumers win. Longer term, businesses also win when consumers have confidence in answering the phone again without worry it’s yet another robo call.

QContact Inc. is an FCC licensed telephone carrier. We can help your business with all their communication needs – calls, texts, social, e-mail, live chat and more all in one single unified interface.