Georgia AG Carr involved in fight against illegal robocalls

ATLANTA (FOX 5 Atlanta) - In consumer news, a long talked about nationwide effort between the telecommunications companies and state prosecutors to crack down on robocalls is here.

Fifty-one attorneys general and 12 phone companies have agreed to what it calls "eight principles" to fight "illegal robocalls."  This bipartisan effort will help you block illegal robocalls, and to make it easier to investigate and prosecute bad actors. This has been top of mind for the FCC for quite some time.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a recent statement on the government's YouTube channel.

"Unwanted robocalls are a serious problem for almost every American with a phone. Even the FCC gets them. And all too often they're a scam."

I sat down with Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr who reminds us that 47 billion robocalls were placed last year. Sure they're annoying, he says, but they can also end up being harmful.

"Let's work to stop these robocalls. And we've got a couple of different principles and one is the companies, the AT&Ts and the Verizons, are working to make sure the technologies are upgraded at both the network level and the phone level to block robocalls, but to also a commit to work with state attorneys general and with law enforcement to go after those that are perpetrating crimes."

Coming soon will be advanced call-blocking technology that will let consumers download programs to help block illegal robocalls. Call authentication where the phone provider will have to validate these calls before they get to your phone. So hang on. Help is on the way.

Oh, and it's free. The industry already has the technology in place to do this. It was just a matter of getting everyone on the same page.