This ex parte Notice is submitted to describe a meeting between Federal Communications Commission staff and consumer and privacy advocates on September 30, 2022. Members of the staff from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau of the FCC in attendance were Alejandro Roark, Zac Champ, Aaron Garza, Karen Schroeder, Mark Stone, and Kristi Thornton, along with Carmen Scurato, legal advisor to Chairwoman Rosenworcel.
The consumer and privacy advocates attending were Erin Witte with Consumer Federation of America, Nick Garcia with Public Knowledge, Christine Hines with the National Association of Consumer Advocates,
Eden Iscil with National Consumers League, Teresa Murray with U.S. PIRG, Chris Frascella with Electronic Privacy Information Center, and myself—Margot Saunders—with the National Consumer Law Center, on behalf of its low-income clients.
The groups discussed three topics: 1) Completion of the Exemption Rules and exclusion of scam calls from exempt calls; 2) Explanation of why it appears that scam calls are decreasing and telemarketing calls are increasing; and 3) Clarification that sellers cannot rely on consents provided through data brokers and lead generators.