Robocalls affect any person who possesses a telephone. Yet, most media somehow ignore the big and growing problem that irks millions of Americans, notes Grumpy Editor.
About 26.3 billion robocalls were directed at Americans last year, up 46 percent from 2017.
While people can register with the National Do Not Call Registry, illegal robocalls --- many from foreign locations --- grow like a fungus. It's not unusual for some people to receive 10 or more robocalls a day, the largest source of consumer complaints to the Federal Trade Commission.
The May issue of Consumer Reports terms robocalls "epidemic."
CR mentions "the telecom industry has promised to roll out new technology that, though not stopping robocalls on its own, would identify calls as potentially fraudulent so that consumers can decide whether to answer."
Grumpy Editor finds it interesting that when some nabbed robocallers go to court, they get off easy.
Examples CR cites: One outfit that blasted millions of unlawful robocalls was ordered to pay $2.2 million. But the Federal Trade Commission suspended that judgment upon payment of $65,000 --- based on inability to pay. Another operation that engineered billions of illegal robocalls was ordered to pay $2.7 million by the FTC, growing to $9.9 million when factoring in other people in the scheme. But this was cut to $510,000 because of inability to pay.
There may be hope ahead.
Introduced in Congress in January is a bill called Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act. It would make robocall fines bigger and easier for the Federal Communications Commission to obtain.
IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...
GEORGIA SEEKS JOURNALISM ETHICS BOARD. Republicans in the Georgia House file a bill that proposes a "Journalism Ethics Board" to oversee news coverage in the state. The bill calls for the creation of an "independent" board --- housed at the University of Georgia's journalism and communications school --- to make "canons and ethics" and "rules and regulations" for journalism in the state.
UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS DECLINE. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits decline 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 202,000 for the week ended March 30, lowest level since early December 1969, reports the Labor Department.
BIG SHAKER "OVERDUE" IN GOLDEN STATE. California is in an earthquake drought, proclaims the Los Angeles Times in a periodic, lengthy, illustrated feature. The latest, in a series of efforts to shake up readers, mentions it has been almost five years since the state experienced its last earthquake of magnitude 6 or stronger.
WIND TURBINES CAUSE CANCER? The White House is refusing to explain why President Donald Trump claims, falsely, that the noise from wind turbines causes cancer, notes CNN.
BULLETPROOF VEST AT BORDER MOCKED. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) mocks Lawrence Jones for wearing a bulletproof vest while reporting for Fox News at the southern border. Jones says border patrol agents advised him to wear the protective garment, because “we control this side of the border, but the cartel controls the other side of the border. There’s been gun fights.”
MEASLES CASES RISE. More people are sickened by measles in the first three months of 2019 than for all of 2018. It's the second-highest number reported since U.S. health officials declared the highly contagious and sometimes deadly disease “eliminated” in 2000.
12-YEAR-OLD TO ADDRESS COLLEGE GRADUATES. University commencement speaker is added to 12-year-old Hilde Kate Lysiak’s accomplishments that include crime reporter, publisher, author and subject of a television series. She is scheduled to address graduates of West Virginia University’s Reed College of Media next month in Morgantown, W.Va. Hilde first came to national attention at age 9, when she covered a homicide in her hometown of Selinsgrove, Pa., and for her self-published newspaper and website, Orange Street News.
13-YEAR-OLD BUYS CAR FOR MOM. A 13-year-old boy surprises Krystal Preston, his single mother in Nevada, by presenting her with a white 1999 Chevrolet Metro, earned by mowing yards and clearing yards.
TRUMP AGAIN NIXES CORRESPONDENTS DINNER. President Donald Trump says he's got better things to do than attend the "boring" and "negative" White House Correspondents' Association dinner April 27. He will be holding a rally at that time, skipping the dinner for the third year in a row.
Comments