March 2020 - Call Compliance News

Federal Communications Commission

On March 20, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) issued a ruling clarifying the scope of the exemption for calls made for “emergency purposes” in response to the outbreak of COVID-19.  Calls made for “emergency purposes” can legally use an automatic telephone dialing system (“ATDS”) without prior express consent of the called party. In order to qualify, the caller must be from a hospital, or be a health care provider, state or local health official, or other government official, or an organization acting on its behalf and the content of the call must be solely informational, made necessary because of the COVID-19 outbreak, and directly related to the imminent health or safety risk arising out of the COVID-19 outbreak. See https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-20-318A1.pdf.

Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals

The Seventh Circuit both affirmed and remanded the trial court’s decision in United States v. DISH Network, LLC. The appeals court affirmed the judgment but remanded the $280 million award noting that the court “based the penalty entirely on DISH’s ability to pay”.

California

On March 11, 2020 the California Attorney General issued additional proposed revisions to the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”). The proposed changes include: a change in privacy policy notice requirements; a change in requirements for type of information collected in response to a “right to know request”; record keeping requirement changes; notice of collection to employees; removal of previous guidance regarding sample opt out buttons; the definition of service provider; and the removal of the requirement that privacy controls not be pre-selected.  See https://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/pdfs/privacy/ccpa-text-of-second-set-mod-031120.pdf?.