Courts strikes down FCC’s new definition of autodialers

A circuit court of appeals in Washington struck down the FCC’s expansion of the definition of an autodialer, which could include smart phones, as over-reaching and unreasonable. The court rejected the assertion that any dialing equipment or device that could dial numbers using a random number generator or a sequential number generator was an auto dialer. (a smart phone with add-ons could be turned into an auto dialer by this definition).

The association of collection agencies and financial institutions was pleased with the decision. The current FCC’s chairman also supported the ruling.