Don't Call Me (Maybe)

Welcome back, listeners, from what we hope was a calm, relaxing break. 

If it was anything like ours, just when you cozied up with a summer read, you were likely jarred back to reality by a pesky robocall asking about your auto warranty. 

Receiving unwanted robocalls remains a universal experience 32 years after Congress passed the Telephone Consumer Protection Act to empower Americans to fight off unwanted calls. In our ninth episode this season, we explain why the law did little to stop overseas scammers and instead created financial incentives for plaintiffs and their attorneys, ultimately leading to the Supreme Court's determination of what constituted an "autodialer." 

Now, an Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Taskforce of 49 attorneys general are taking on Avid Telecom, a Voice over Internet Protocol provider accused of sending or trying to send more than 24.5 billion calls. 

Will the outcome inspire Americans to start answering their phones? Press one for yes or two for no. 

Special guests:

• Noah Duguid, who sued Facebook over unwanted texts 
• Roger Anderson, founder of the Jolly Roger Telephone Company
• Eric Troutman, defense attorney and “czar” of the TCPA 
• Chris Laccinole, a frequent TCPA litigator 
• Isaac Shloss, chair of the Government Affairs Committee for the Professional Associations for Customer Engagement 
• Attorney Jay Edelson

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens.

Editorial staff is Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Chapters

• 0:00 Interpreted Extremely Broadly
• 14:49 A Game of Cat and Mouse