In an attempt to combat spoofed calls and robocalls through industry consensus, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has accepted the recommendations of the North American Numbering Council (NANC) calling for the implementation of the SHAKEN/STIR framework. SHAKEN/STIR is an industry-developed set of protocols and operational procedures designed to authenticate telephones calls and mitigate spoofing and illegal robocalling. The FCC called upon NANC’s Call Authentication Trust Anchor Working Group (CATA WG) to investigate a variety of issues associated with the SHAKEN/STIR system and provide the FCC with a report. The NANC report, among other things: (1) recommends that industry take the lead in expeditiously selecting a Governance Authority that will coordinate stakeholders to ensure that telephone calls can be authenticated; (2) proposes the Governance Authority’s structure, duties, and relationship with a Policy Administrator, which will implement essential parts of the call authentication system; and (3) anticipates that the Governance Authority and Policy Administrator will be operational within one year. According to the NANC report, spoofing and robocalls generate the largest number of consumer complaints to the FCC, with Americans consumers receiving approximately 2.4 billion robocalls per month in 2016 alone.
