The FCC (Federal Communications Community) announced today that all mobile phone providers as well as mobile phone owners will have to adopt the STIR/SHAKEN protocol, a policy expected to take effect on June 30, 2021. The regulatory requirement is designed to combat so-called robocalls, i.e. automated recorded messages – callers, especially those that try to hide their phone numbers, making it possible for users to verify the authenticity of the calls.
The government agency says that widespread adoption of STIR/SHAKEN will reduce the effectiveness of illegal spoofing ,help law enforcement identify potential malicious actors, and, most importantly, allow cell phone owners to verify the authenticity of calls and identify unwanted users before they even call them. The FCC estimates that “spoofing” programs cost Americans about $10 billion a year. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai began pushing cell phone owners to adopt the protocol in 2018, while Congress also “passed” the technology last year with the TRACED Act.
While the regulatory requirement to adopt STIR/SHAKEN is a step in the right direction, it won’t provide a direct solution to the robocalls issue, since it’s not enough for mobile phone owners to just implement the protocol, they’ll also need to check whether their app works with other networks. In other words, it’s not something a wireless carrier can simply enable. In addition, mobile phone owners also need a device that will display a notification when someone calls them. While the majority of modern smartphones support caller ID, other mobile phones will need to receive the necessary patches to support such a feature.
