115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 134 

AN ACT 

To expand the prohibition on misleading or inaccurate caller 

identification information, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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†S 134 ES

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Spoofing Prevention 

3 Act of 2017’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITION. 

5 In this Act, the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Fed6 eral Communications Commission. 

7 SEC. 3. SPOOFING PREVENTION. 

8 (a) EXPANDING AND CLARIFYING PROHIBITION ON

9 MISLEADING OR INACCURATE CALLER IDENTIFICATION

10 INFORMATION.— 

11 (1) COMMUNICATIONS FROM OUTSIDE THE

12 UNITED STATES.—Section 227(e)(1) of the Commu13 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(e)(1)) is 

14 amended by striking ‘‘in connection with any tele15 communications service or IP-enabled voice service’’ 

16 and inserting ‘‘or any person outside the United 

17 States if the recipient of the call is within the 

18 United States, in connection with any voice service 

19 or text messaging service’’. 

20 (2) COVERAGE OF TEXT MESSAGES AND VOICE

21 SERVICES.—Section 227(e)(8) of the Communica22 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(e)(8)) is amend23 ed— 

24 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘tele25 communications service or IP-enabled voice 
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1 service’’ and inserting ‘‘voice service or a text 

2 message sent using a text messaging service’’; 

3 (B) in the first sentence of subparagraph 

4 (B), by striking ‘‘telecommunications service or 

5 IP-enabled voice service’’ and inserting ‘‘voice 

6 service or a text message sent using a text mes7 saging service’’; and 

8 (C) by striking subparagraph (C) and in9 serting the following: 

10 ‘‘(C) TEXT MESSAGE.—The term ‘text 

11 message’— 

12 ‘‘(i) means a message consisting of 

13 text, images, sounds, or other information 

14 that is transmitted from or received by a 

15 device that is identified as the transmitting 

16 or receiving device by means of a 10-digit 

17 telephone number; 

18 ‘‘(ii) includes a short message service 

19 (commonly referred to as ‘SMS’) message, 

20 and a multimedia message service (com21 monly referred to as ‘MMS’) message; and 

22 ‘‘(iii) does not include— 

23 ‘‘(I) a real-time, two-way voice or 

24 video communication; or 
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1 ‘‘(II) a message sent over an IP2 enabled messaging service to another 

3 user of the same messaging service, 

4 except a message described in clause 

5 (ii). 

6 ‘‘(D) TEXT MESSAGING SERVICE.—The 

7 term ‘text messaging service’ means a service 

8 that enables the transmission or receipt of a 

9 text message, including a service provided as 

10 part of or in connection with a voice service. 

11 ‘‘(E) VOICE SERVICE.—The term ‘voice 

12 service’— 

13 ‘‘(i) means any service that furnishes 

14 voice communications to an end user using 

15 resources from the North American Num16 bering Plan or any successor to the North 

17 American Numbering Plan adopted by the 

18 Commission under section 251(e)(1); and 

19 ‘‘(ii) includes transmissions from a 

20 telephone facsimile machine, computer, or 

21 other device to a telephone facsimile ma22 chine.’’. 

23 (3) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Section 227(e) 

24 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 
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1 227(e)) is amended in the heading by inserting 

2 ‘‘MISLEADING OR’’ before ‘‘INACCURATE’’. 

3 (4) REGULATIONS.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 227(e)(3)(A) of 

5 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

6 227(e)(3)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘Not 

7 later than 6 months after the date of enactment 

8 of the Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009, the 

9 Commission’’ and inserting ‘‘The Commission’’. 

10 (B) DEADLINE.—The Commission shall 

11 prescribe regulations to implement the amend12 ments made by this subsection not later than 

13 18 months after the date of enactment of this 

14 Act. 

15 (5) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

16 by this subsection shall take effect on the date that 

17 is 6 months after the date on which the Commission 

18 prescribes regulations under paragraph (4). 

19 (b) CONSUMER EDUCATION MATERIALS ON HOW TO

20 AVOID SCAMS THAT RELY UPON MISLEADING OR INAC21 CURATE CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION.— 

22 (1) DEVELOPMENT OF MATERIALS.—Not later 

23 than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, 

24 the Commission, in collaboration with the Federal 
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1 Trade Commission, shall develop consumer edu2 cation materials that provide information about— 

3 (A) ways for consumers to identify scams 

4 and other fraudulent activity that rely upon the 

5 use of misleading or inaccurate caller identifica6 tion information; and 

7 (B) existing technologies, if any, that a 

8 consumer can use to protect against such scams 

9 and other fraudulent activity. 

10 (2) CONTENTS.—In developing the consumer 

11 education materials under paragraph (1), the Com12 mission shall— 

13 (A) identify existing technologies, if any, 

14 that can help consumers guard themselves 

15 against scams and other fraudulent activity 

16 that rely upon the use of misleading or inac17 curate caller identification information, includ18 ing— 

19 (i) descriptions of how a consumer 

20 can use the technologies to protect against 

21 such scams and other fraudulent activity; 

22 and 

23 (ii) details on how consumers can ac24 cess and use the technologies; and 
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1 (B) provide other information that may 

2 help consumers identify and avoid scams and 

3 other fraudulent activity that rely upon the use 

4 of misleading or inaccurate caller identification 

5 information. 

6 (3) UPDATES.—The Commission shall ensure 

7 that the consumer education materials required 

8 under paragraph (1) are updated on a regular basis. 

9 (4) WEBSITE.—The Commission shall include 

10 the consumer education materials developed under 

11 paragraph (1) on its website. 

12 (c) GAO REPORT ON COMBATING THE FRAUDULENT

13 PROVISION OF MISLEADING OR INACCURATE CALLER

14 IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of 

16 the United States shall conduct a study of the ac17 tions the Commission and the Federal Trade Com18 mission have taken to combat the fraudulent provi19 sion of misleading or inaccurate caller identification 

20 information, and the additional measures that could 

21 be taken to combat such activity. 

22 (2) REQUIRED CONSIDERATIONS.—In con23 ducting the study under paragraph (1), the Comp24 troller General shall examine— 
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1 (A) trends in the types of scams that rely 

2 on misleading or inaccurate caller identification 

3 information; 

4 (B) previous and current enforcement ac5 tions by the Commission and the Federal Trade 

6 Commission to combat the practices prohibited 

7 by section 227(e)(1) of the Communications Act 

8 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(e)(1)); 

9 (C) current efforts by industry groups and 

10 other entities to develop technical standards to 

11 deter or prevent the fraudulent provision of 

12 misleading or inaccurate caller identification in13 formation, and how such standards may help 

14 combat the current and future provision of mis15 leading or inaccurate caller identification infor16 mation; and 

17 (D) whether there are additional actions 

18 the Commission, the Federal Trade Commis19 sion, and Congress should take to combat the 

20 fraudulent provision of misleading or inaccurate 

21 caller identification information. 

22 (3) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after 

23 the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

24 General shall submit to the Committee on Com25 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate 
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1 and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 

2 House of Representatives a report on the findings of 

3 the study conducted under paragraph (1), including 

4 any recommendations regarding combating the 

5 fraudulent provision of misleading or inaccurate call6 er identification information. 

7 (d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec8 tion, or the amendments made by this section, shall be 

9 construed to modify, limit, or otherwise affect any rule or 

10 order adopted by the Commission in connection with— 

11 (1) the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 

12 1991 (Public Law 102–243; 105 Stat. 2394) or the 

13 amendments made by that Act; or 

14 (2) the CAN–SPAM Act of 2003 (15 U.S.C. 

15 7701 et seq.). 

Passed the Senate August 3, 2017. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 
115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 134 

AN ACT 

To expand the prohibition on misleading or inacother purposes. curate caller identification information, and for