Federal officials are considering a change that will allow the public to stop high-pressure, continuous “robocalls,” from political candidates.

For now, the calls are allowed, even with the protection of the national “do-not-call” list, according to officials from the Federal Communications Commission.

With the possible rule changes, however, residents will have to give permission to receive the calls and can tell the caller to stop dialing their home or office.

The FCC already has the robocalls on their radar screen and will talk about it at their Feb. 15 public meeting in Washington D.C,, said Keyla Hernandez, a spokeswoman for the FCC.

According to Internet information, a robocall is defined as ‘an automated phone call that uses both a computerized autodialer and a computer-delivered pre-recorded message.”

“The Commission will consider a Report and order that protects consumers from unwanted autodialed or prerecorded calls,” the agenda item said. “By adopting rules that ensure consumers have given prior express consent before receiving robocalls, they can easily opt out of further robocalls, and will experience abandoned telemarketing calls only in strictly limited instances.”

Multiple calls

The calls have been pouring into Georgetown County and across the state in the past few weeks, causing some residents a large amount of frustration.

The calls are arriving via cell phone, home phone and on some business lines, despite residents’ threats to call the FCC.

“I threatened to call FCC if they didn't stop,” said Susie Jackson, who posted on the Georgetown Times Facebook page.

“They finally stopped after 24 hours.”

“Sometimes four in a row,” said David Scharlau Romney.

“Completely annoying,” said another Facebook poster.  

According to news reports, the calls were happening throughout the state in the days before the Presidential Preference Primary.

The Web site, Stoppoliticalcalls.org, said there is a federal  law that prevents political robo-calls from arriving on cell phones.

There is also a bill in progress to reverse that law, according to the Web site.

The Web site encourages people to write their Congressman and fight the bill allowing the cell phone calls.

Hernandez said there are some ways to limit the calls, but for now, they are not protected under the federal “do not call laws.”

The automatic calls can be reported to the FCC, she said.

Residents should also check the national and the state registry to see if their “do not call” status has expired.

A person must renew their information every five years, she said.

“The do not call registry does not prevent all unwanted calls,” she said. “The robo-calls during an election year are not covered.”

By Kelly Marshall Fuller

Kfuller@gtowntimes.com