In a press release late last month, FCC chairman Brendan Carr said “We must bring meaningful robocall relief to consumers.” In another press release two days later, the commission wrote that “Stopping illegal calls is the FCC’s top consumer protection priority.” At face value, this emphasis should be welcome news to the American public. Late last year a report from the consumer advocacy group U.S. PIRG Education Fund found that Americans had received 2.14 billion robocalls per month in 2024. That’s only about six per month on a per-capita basis, but they aren’t evenly distributed. It’s not unheard of for some Americans to get over 100 spam calls in a day. But the FCC’s cure might be worse than the disease. Among other sweeping changes, the era of the burner phone could end with the rollout of new “Know Your Customer” rules voted on by the FCC on April 30, as noted by the blog of the D.C. telecom law firm Wiley Rein. Customers would, according to the proposed rules, have to present a government ID, a physical address, a full legal name, and an existing phone number. FCC rules at this phase are not yet in force, and would not go into effect for a year after full approval. The commission is still seeking comment, and is asking to hear privacy concerns specifically.