II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 134 

To expand the prohibition on misleading or inaccurate caller identification 

information, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 12, 2017 

Mr. NELSON (for himself, Mrs. FISCHER, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and Mr. BLUNT) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITION. 

7 In this Act, the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Fed8 eral Communications Commission. 


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1 SEC. 3. SPOOFING PREVENTION. 

2 (a) EXPANDING AND CLARIFYING PROHIBITION ON

3 MISLEADING OR INACCURATE CALLER IDENTIFICATION

4 INFORMATION.— 

5 (1) COMMUNICATIONS FROM OUTSIDE THE

6 UNITED STATES.—Section 227(e)(1) of the Commu7 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(e)(1)) is 

8 amended by striking ‘‘in connection with any tele9 communications service or IP-enabled voice service’’ 

10 and inserting ‘‘or any person outside the United 

11 States if the recipient of the call is within the 

12 United States, in connection with any voice service 

13 or text messaging service’’. 

14 (2) COVERAGE OF TEXT MESSAGES AND VOICE

15 SERVICES.—Section 227(e)(8) of the Communica16 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(e)(8)) is amend17 ed— 

18 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘tele19 communications service or IP-enabled voice 

20 service’’ and inserting ‘‘voice service or a text 

21 message sent using a text messaging service’’; 

22 (B) in the first sentence of subparagraph 

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

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

25 service or a text message sent using a text mes26 saging service’’; and 


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1 (C) by striking subparagraph (C) and in2 serting the following: 

3 ‘‘(C) TEXT MESSAGE.—The term ‘text 

4 message’— 

5 ‘‘(i) means a message consisting of 

6 text, images, sounds, or other information 

7 that is transmitted from or received by a 

8 device that is identified as the transmitting 

9 or receiving device by means of a 10-digit 

10 telephone number; 

11 ‘‘(ii) includes a short message service 

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

13 an enhanced message service (commonly 

14 referred to as ‘EMS’) message, and a 

15 multimedia message service (commonly re16 ferred to as ‘MMS’) message; and 

17 ‘‘(iii) does not include a real-time, 2- 

18 way voice or video communication. 

19 ‘‘(D) TEXT MESSAGING SERVICE.—The 

20 term ‘text messaging service’ means a service 

21 that permits the transmission or receipt of a 

22 text message, including a service provided as 

23 part of or in connection with a voice service. 

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

25 service’— 


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1 ‘‘(i) means any service that furnishes 

2 voice communications to an end user using 

3 resources from the North American Num4 bering Plan or any successor to the North 

5 American Numbering Plan adopted by the 

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

7 ‘‘(ii) includes transmissions from a 

8 telephone facsimile machine, computer, or 

9 other device to a telephone facsimile ma10 chine.’’. 

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

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

13 227(e)) is amended in the heading by inserting 

14 ‘‘MISLEADING OR’’ before ‘‘INACCURATE’’. 

15 (4) REGULATIONS.— 

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

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

18 227(e)(3)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘Not 

19 later than 6 months after the date of enactment 

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

21 Commission’’ and inserting ‘‘The Commission’’. 

22 (B) DEADLINE.—The Commission shall 

23 prescribe regulations to implement the amend24 ments made by this subsection not later than 


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1 18 months after the date of enactment of this 

2 Act. 

3 (5) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

4 by this subsection shall take effect on the date that 

5 is 6 months after the date on which the Commission 

6 prescribes regulations under paragraph (4). 

7 (b) CONSUMER EDUCATION MATERIALS ON HOW TO

8 AVOID SCAMS THAT RELY UPON MISLEADING OR INAC9 CURATE CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION.— 

10 (1) DEVELOPMENT OF MATERIALS.—Not later 

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

12 the Commission, in collaboration with the Federal 

13 Trade Commission, shall develop consumer edu14 cation materials that provide information about— 

15 (A) ways for consumers to identify scams 

16 and other fraudulent activity that rely upon the 

17 use of misleading or inaccurate caller identifica18 tion information; and 

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

20 consumer can use to protect against such scams 

21 and other fraudulent activity. 

22 (2) CONTENTS.—In developing the consumer 

23 education materials under paragraph (1), the Com24 mission shall— 


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1 (A) identify existing technologies, if any, 

2 that can help consumers guard themselves 

3 against scams and other fraudulent activity 

4 that rely upon the use of misleading or inac5 curate caller identification information, includ6 ing— 

7 (i) descriptions of how a consumer 

8 can use the technologies to protect against 

9 such scams and other fraudulent activity; 

10 and 

11 (ii) details on how consumers can ac12 cess and use the technologies; and 

13 (B) provide other information that may 

14 help consumers identify and avoid scams and 

15 other fraudulent activity that rely upon the use 

16 of misleading or inaccurate caller identification 

17 information. 

18 (3) UPDATES.—The Commission shall ensure 

19 that the consumer education materials required 

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

21 (4) WEBSITE.—The Commission shall include 

22 the consumer education materials developed under 

23 paragraph (1) on its website. 


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1 (c) GAO REPORT ON COMBATING THE FRAUDULENT

2 PROVISION OF MISLEADING OR INACCURATE CALLER

3 IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION.— 

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

5 the United States shall conduct a study of the ac6 tions the Commission and the Federal Trade Com7 mission have taken to combat the fraudulent provi8 sion of misleading or inaccurate caller identification 

9 information, and the additional measures that could 

10 be taken to combat such activity. 

11 (2) REQUIRED CONSIDERATIONS.—In con12 ducting the study under paragraph (1), the Comp13 troller General shall examine— 

14 (A) trends in the types of scams that rely 

15 on misleading or inaccurate caller identification 

16 information; 

17 (B) previous and current enforcement ac18 tions by the Commission and the Federal Trade 

19 Commission to combat the practices prohibited 

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

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

22 (C) current efforts by industry groups and 

23 other entities to develop technical standards to 

24 deter or prevent the fraudulent provision of 

25 misleading or inaccurate caller identification inVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:11 Jan 25, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S134.IS S134

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1 formation, and how such standards may help 

2 combat the current and future provision of mis3 leading or inaccurate caller identification infor4 mation; and 

5 (D) whether there are additional actions 

6 the Commission, the Federal Trade Commis7 sion, and Congress should take to combat the 

8 fraudulent provision of misleading or inaccurate 

9 caller identification information. 

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

11 the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

12 General shall submit to the Committee on Com13 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate 

14 and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 

15 House of Representatives a report on the findings of 

16 the study conducted under paragraph (1), including 

17 any recommendations regarding combating the 

18 fraudulent provision of misleading or inaccurate call19 er identification information. 

20 (d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec21 tion, or the amendments made by this section, shall be 

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

23 order adopted by the Commission in connection with— 


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1 (1) the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 

2 1991 (Public Law 102–243; 105 Stat. 2394) or the 

3 amendments made by that Act; or 

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

5 7701 et seq.). 

Æ 


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