The American Bankers Association today expressed its support for Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr’s decision to schedule a May 20 vote on issuing a proposal that would impose stronger “know your upstream provider” requirements on voice service providers that allow calls to pass through their network.
Last month, with ABA’s support, the FCC voted to issue a separate proposal that would impose stronger “know your customer” requirements on voice service providers that originate calls. The proposal the FCC will consider on May 20 complements that action. It would require all voice service providers in the call’s pathway to collect certain information about the caller from the “upstream” provider — that is, the provider that originated the call — to better ensure each provider is transmitting only lawful calls.
Significantly, the proposal seeks to strengthen the requirements for “A-level” or “B-level” attestations. Under the “STIR-SHAKEN” call authentication framework, calls are “signed” at origination with different levels of “attestation.” A call that receives an “A-level” attestation – the highest form of attestation – means the originating provider knows the caller and knows the caller has the legal right to the number that will be displayed in the recipient’s caller ID. If a call receives A-level attestation, it is eligible for vendors’ call branding designed to signal that the call is from a legitimate source, such as a green “checkmark.”
In a prior comment, ABA provided an analysis, cited by the FCC in its proposal, that found that more than half of a sample of 12,900 illegally spoofed calls received an A-level or B-level attestation. ABA called on the FCC to require originating providers to verify that the caller has the legal right to use the number that will be displayed in the recipient’s caller ID display when the caller seeks to place an A-level attested call.
“We share the commission’s belief that not ‘all originating providers are meaningfully verifying a customer’s association with a telephone number, leading to improper attestations,’” said ABA. “We commend the commission for proposing specific ways that an originating provider can verify that its customer (the caller) has the legal right to the telephone number used for a call.”
If the FCC votes to issue the proposal, it will be published in the Federal Register, which will begin a 30-day initial comment period.
