One of the many new laws enacted in California at the end of the most recent legislative session included the Consumer Call Protection Act.
Signed by Governor Gavin Newsom on October 2, the new law requires telecommunications service providers to implement SHAKEN/STIR protocols by January 1, 2021, designed to attest to the authenticity of caller identification data and supply service providers with information to help ensure that calls are not spoofed.
An alternative technology may be used as long as it provides “comparable or superior” capability to verify and authenticate caller identification for calls carried over an Internet protocol network. Carriers are not required to block calls, and a “good faith effort” to comply will establish a defense against claims of violations of the new law.
The law also authorizes the state’s attorney general and the California Public Utilities Commission “to take all appropriate actions to enforce” the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and its implementing regulations.
To read the new law, click here.
Why it matters: The California State Legislature expressed concern about the “rise in deceptive calls … aimed at defrauding telecommunications customers” and set a firm deadline for the implementation of SHAKEN/STIR technology. Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission continues to work out the details of a similar requirement at the federal level.