As Acting Chief of the FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, I am excited about the opportunity to join with federal, state and local agencies in celebrating National Consumer Protection Week -- a coordinated effort to encourage consumers to take full advantage of their rights and make better-informed decisions. Indeed, this is our bureau’s daily mission on behalf of the Commission.
In this spirit, I wanted to highlight how the FCC strives to inform and empower consumers in the communications marketplace. A few examples:
- At FCC.gov/consumers, you can browse our library of more than 160 consumer guides on topics that range from tips on pocketbook issues, such as how to detect unauthorized charges on your phone bill, to mobile device theft protection or stopping unwanted robocalls and texts, to name just a few.
- Through our Consumer Help Center, you can file a complaint with the FCC. The collective data we receive – with more than 380,000 individual complaints logged since the Consumer Help Center launched in January 2015 – helps us keep a pulse on what consumers are experiencing.
- By signing up for our AccessInfo email list, you can keep up with our latest efforts to promote innovation, competition and access to new technology for consumers with disabilities.
- Thanks to accessible technology advances, consumers who are deaf or hard of hearing can communicate with us directly through our American Sign Language Consumer Support Line – available using videophone at 844-432-2275 – as part of our continuing push to expand the availability of Direct Video Communications in government agencies and businesses.
Looking ahead, we know that the changes resulting from technology innovation occur rapidly in the marketplace, presenting new opportunities, but also new challenges for consumers. As FCC Chairman Wheeler often says, “With continuing advances in technology, I believe that if we can imagine it, we can do it.”
At the FCC, our goal is to keep pace and empower you, the consumer, ensuring that you are informed to take advantage of the rules that protect your rights, and – when needed – to seek our help in navigating solutions in today’s communications marketplace.