Idaho joins effort to fight robocalls

Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, other state attorneys general and 12 private phone companies have agreed to adopt eight principles to fight illegal robocalls.

“Robocalls are a plague on all of us, but I’m optimistic that through collaborations like this one, we can begin attacking the problem,” Wasden said. “This is bigger than just one state, and I’m glad to see attorneys general and phone carriers teaming up to address the issue.”

According to Wasden, the phone companies will implement free call-blocking technology at the network level and make free, easy-to-use call-blocking and labeling tools available to customers. They also agreed to implement technology to verify callers are coming from a valid source and to monitor their networks for robocall traffic.

Phone companies will also work with attorneys general to assist in anti-robocall enforcement. That will include identifying “bad actors” for investigation, taking action against suspicious callers, helping to trace the origin of illegal robocalls and to cooperate in traceback identification.

Both groups agreed to optimize robocall protections as technology and scammer techniques improve.