https://www.npr.org/2024/11/17/nx-s1-5193064/fcc-chair-brendan-carr-trump

Of all the opportunities for a federal agency to stand out from the crowd of those coming under the scrutiny of the DOGE, while simultaneously replacing a long-time wasted budget item from another agency, this is the one that can win the hearts of Americans of every political stripe!

The Molière Citations team cautiously extends this invitation for the Federal Communications Commission, under its incoming chairman Brendan Carr to earn a Molière Celebration.

Is there anyone — really anyone — who doesn’t receive multiple spam calls (and texts) every day?

A review of the situation shows that for over 20 years (no joke) the Federal TRADE Commission has had the responsibility for administering and enforcing the “Do Not Call” list. We wrote about that previously found in this post: https://molierecitations.com/citation-to-the-federal-trade-commission-for-do-not-call-list-enforcement/

See https://www.donotcall.gov/faq.html for more information.

Let’s be clear, if the FTC lacks sufficient authority or resources to enforce the law — or to close the obnoxious loopholes for preferred callers (like political campaigners) — they could ask for it.  So far, it’s a complete failure.  More than 20 years, and barely 150 enforcement actions by the FTC, and still way too many spam calls to every one of us every day.

There’s a partial remedy, however, in the authority of the Federal COMMUNICATIONS Commission. The FCC has over the past several years managed to identify and penalize and even shut down some of the scammiest of the scammers.

Based on that growing track record, we encourage Chairman-designate Carr and the FCC Commissioners (including the pending nominee to the currently empty seat) to get cracking and use the Commission’s full power to “search and destroy” the sources of this blight.

FWIW, from time to time we see some academic estimate of the value of the lost time and value lost to our economy in answering (or playing back) — or even the distraction from our legitimate activities — caused by spam calls and texts.

Imagine a world free from spam calls!

The Molière Citations team encourages incoming Chairman Carr and the FCC to take up the cudgel and give the spammers a good whack where it will do the most good!

Photo: AI generated on craiyon.com