Interveners will have to sign NDA
MONTREAL and OTTAWA — Bell is ready to test an artificial intelligence-based system it has developed for blocking fraudulent phone calls, and says last week’s decision by the CRTC regarding its application brings it a step closer to launching its technology trial.
According to a Bell news release Friday, its AI-based network technology could potentially block an estimated 120 million more scam calls per month than Bell is able to stop using call-blocking methods currently mandated by the CRTC.
“Our industry has made solid progress in combatting these scam calls, and Bell’s innovative new AI process would further dramatically reduce the number that get through to customers,” said Rizwan Jamal, president of Bell residential and small business, in Friday’s news release. “We’re ready to take the next step, and while we welcome today’s decision by the CRTC to move the process forward, we eagerly await its approval to launch our trial.”
Bell’s trial application builds on the CRTC’s Compliance and Enforcement and Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2018-484: Implementation of universal network-level blocking of calls with blatantly illegitimate caller identification, issued in December 2018. As part of the process, the CRTC mandated that Canadian telephone providers implement call-blocking technology by December 17, 2019.
Bell says it’s now preventing approximately 220 million such calls from reaching customers each month using universal network-level call blocking; other Canadian carriers are also blocking tens of millions of scam calls monthly, Bell says in its news release. However, the CRTC has acknowledged current call-blocking approaches are only part of the solution and have encouraged carriers to continue working on further remedies, Bell adds.
Based on the latest AI and machine learning technologies, Bell’s enhanced call-block system uses defined sets of typical call characteristics and proprietary algorithms to analyse and identify scam calls, even as fraudsters attempt to employ techniques to defeat the system, Bell explains.
Bell says its proposed solution is consistent with CRTC policy as only verifiably fraudulent calls would be blocked. Before any blocking, a secondary process validates the fraudulent nature of the calls, including cross-referencing the system’s determinations with the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC), the central agency that collects information and criminal intelligence on matters such as mass marketing fraud, Internet fraud and identification theft complaints.
On Friday, in its Compliance and Enforcement and Telecom Decision CRTC 2020-7, the CRTC addressed requests made by several interveners regarding Bell Canada’s application and confidential information included in the application. Interveners included: Dr. Fenwick McKelvey; Marc Nanni; Mark Phillips; Dr. Reza Rajabiun; Allstream Business; the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC); the Internet Society Canada Chapter (ISCC); Iristel, on its own behalf and on behalf of Ice Wireless; Quebecor Media, on behalf of Videotron; and Telus. In particular, an intervention requesting disclosure of information filed in confidence was submitted on October 4 by Nanni, which was subsequently supported by Dr. Rajabiun and Dr. McKelvey. In response, on October 25, Bell filed a motion requesting the CRTC permit it to share more information with interveners on a confidential basis, on the condition they sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
In its decision on January 17, the CRTC:
- approves the request for disclosure on the public record of specific information referenced in Appendix 1 of the decision;
- directs Bell Canada to disclose the information referenced in Appendix 2 of the decision to each intervener (named above) who signs a non-disclosure agreement proposed by Bell Canada and modified to exclude an acknowledgement relating to legal advice;
- addresses to Bell Canada a request for information (RFI) proposed by Marc Nanni and modified by the Commission, as set out in Appendix 3 of the decision;
- denies all other requests; and
- approves the following modifications to the process:
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- Bell Canada must file revisions to its abridged application, and to the RFI responses that it filed on September 27 and October 15, 2019, that reflect the determinations set out in this decision and disclose on the public record the information referenced in Appendix 1, by January 24, 2020.
- Bell Canada must provide a copy of the revised NDA to interveners by January 24, 2020.
- Bell Canada must file its answers to the RFI set out in Appendix 3 and provide an abridged copy to interveners by January 27, 2020. In its answers, Bell Canada must disclose on the public record any information that is similar or of a comparable nature to the information referenced in Appendix 1, and disclose to interveners who sign the proposed NDA any information that is similar or of a comparable nature to the information referenced in Appendix 2.
- Interveners who wish to obtain disclosure of the confidential information referenced in Appendix 2 and Bell Canada’s responses to the RFI set out in Appendix 3 must sign the NDA by February 3, 2020. Bell Canada must provide each intervener who signs the NDA with the information referenced in Appendix 2, as well as information in its response to the RFI set out in Appendix 3 that is of a similar or comparable nature to the information referenced in Appendix 2, within two business days of receiving the signed NDA.
- Interveners may file revised interventions, serving a copy on Bell Canada, to address information disclosed on the public record or in confidence to the interveners by February 21, 2020.
The full text of the CRTC’s decision, including the Appendixes, can be found on the CRTC’s website.
