Olens: Robo-calls to cell phones proposal is dead

ATLANTA — The sponsors of a federal measure to allow robo-calls to cell phones have withdrawn their proposal following opposition from consumer advocates and attorneys general nationwide, Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens said.

Last week, Olens joined 53 other attorneys general in a letter to Congress urging lawmakers to oppose the “Mobile Informational Call Act of 2011.”

According to Olens, the legislation would have amended the Communications Act of 1934 to allow so-called robo-calls to cell phones. On Wednesday, the bill sponsors sent a letter to the chairman of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee asking that the act had been canned.

“The withdrawal of the ‘Mobile Informational Call Act of 2011’ will preserve the telephone privacy of cell phone consumers,” Olens said in a news release. “Much credit goes to Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller who raised a red flag and led the effort to protect cell phone users from unwanted robo-calls. The bill sponsors heard our concerns, and I am pleased that they recognized the slippery slope of giving businesses carte blanche to make calls to personal cell phones.”