IIB 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 423 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 24, 2017 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

and Transportation 

AN ACT 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to expand and 

clarify the prohibition on provision of 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, 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

HR 423 RFS

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Anti-Spoofing Act of 

3 2017’’. 

4 SEC. 2. SPOOFING PREVENTION. 

5 (a) EXPANDING AND CLARIFYING PROHIBITION ON

6 MISLEADING OR INACCURATE CALLER IDENTIFICATION

7 INFORMATION.— 

8 (1) COMMUNICATIONS FROM OUTSIDE THE

9 UNITED STATES.—Section 227(e)(1) of the Commu10 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(e)(1)) is 

11 amended by striking ‘‘in connection with any tele12 communications service or IP-enabled voice service’’ 

13 and inserting ‘‘or any person outside the United 

14 States if the recipient is within the United States, 

15 in connection with any voice service or text mes16 saging service’’. 

17 (2) COVERAGE OF TEXT MESSAGES AND VOICE

18 SERVICES.—Section 227(e)(8) of the Communica19 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(e)(8)) is amend20 ed— 

21 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘tele22 communications service or IP-enabled voice 

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

24 message sent using a text messaging service’’; 

25 (B) in the first sentence of subparagraph 

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


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

HR 423 RFS

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

2 service or a text message sent using a text mes3 saging service’’; and 

4 (C) by striking subparagraph (C) and in5 serting the following: 

6 ‘‘(C) TEXT MESSAGE.—The term ‘text 

7 message’— 

8 ‘‘(i) means a message consisting of 

9 text, images, sounds, or other information 

10 that is transmitted to or from a device that 

11 is identified as the receiving or transmit12 ting device by means of a 10-digit tele13 phone number or N11 service code; 

14 ‘‘(ii) includes a short message service 

15 (commonly referred to as ‘SMS’) message 

16 and a multimedia message service (com17 monly referred to as ‘MMS’) message; and 

18 ‘‘(iii) does not include— 

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

20 video communication; or 

21 ‘‘(II) a message sent over an IP22 enabled messaging service to another 

23 user of the same messaging service, 

24 except a message described in clause 

25 (ii). 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

HR 423 RFS

1 ‘‘(D) TEXT MESSAGING SERVICE.—The 

2 term ‘text messaging service’ means a service 

3 that enables the transmission or receipt of a 

4 text message, including a service provided as 

5 part of or in connection with a voice service. 

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

7 service’— 

8 ‘‘(i) means any service that is inter9 connected with the public switched tele10 phone network and that furnishes voice 

11 communications to an end user using re12 sources from the North American Num13 bering Plan or any successor to the North 

14 American Numbering Plan adopted by the 

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

16 ‘‘(ii) includes transmissions from a 

17 telephone facsimile machine, computer, or 

18 other device to a telephone facsimile ma19 chine.’’. 

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

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

22 227(e)) is amended in the heading by inserting 

23 ‘‘MISLEADING OR’’ before ‘‘INACCURATE’’. 

24 (4) REGULATIONS.— 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

HR 423 RFS

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

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

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

4 later than 6 months after the date of enactment 

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

6 Commission’’ and inserting ‘‘The Commission’’. 

7 (B) DEADLINE.—The Commission shall 

8 prescribe regulations to implement the amend9 ments made by this subsection not later than 

10 18 months after the date of enactment of this 

11 Act. 

12 (5) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

13 by this subsection shall take effect on the date that 

14 is 6 months after the date on which the Commission 

15 prescribes regulations under paragraph (4). 

16 (b) CONSUMER EDUCATION MATERIALS ON HOW TO

17 AVOID SCAMS THAT RELY UPON MISLEADING OR INAC18 CURATE CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION.— 

19 (1) DEVELOPMENT OF MATERIALS.—Not later 

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

21 the Commission, in coordination with the Federal 

22 Trade Commission, shall develop consumer edu23 cation materials that provide information about— 

24 (A) ways for consumers to identify scams 

25 and other fraudulent activity that rely upon the 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

HR 423 RFS

1 use of misleading or inaccurate caller identifica2 tion information; and 

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

4 consumer can use to protect against such scams 

5 and other fraudulent activity. 

6 (2) CONTENTS.—In developing the consumer 

7 education materials under paragraph (1), the Com8 mission shall— 

9 (A) identify existing technologies, if any, 

10 that can help consumers guard themselves 

11 against scams and other fraudulent activity 

12 that rely upon the use of misleading or inac13 curate caller identification information, includ14 ing— 

15 (i) descriptions of how a consumer 

16 can use the technologies to protect against 

17 such scams and other fraudulent activity; 

18 and 

19 (ii) details on how consumers can ac20 cess and use the technologies; and 

21 (B) provide other information that may 

22 help consumers identify and avoid scams and 

23 other fraudulent activity that rely upon the use 

24 of misleading or inaccurate caller identification 

25 information. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

HR 423 RFS

1 (3) UPDATES.—The Commission shall ensure 

2 that the consumer education materials required 

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

4 (4) WEBSITE.—The Commission shall include 

5 the consumer education materials developed under 

6 paragraph (1) on its website. 

7 (c) GAO REPORT ON COMBATING THE FRAUDULENT

8 PROVISION OF MISLEADING OR INACCURATE CALLER

9 IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION.— 

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

11 the United States shall conduct a study of the ac12 tions the Commission and the Federal Trade Com13 mission have taken to combat the fraudulent provi14 sion of misleading or inaccurate caller identification 

15 information, and the additional measures that could 

16 be taken to combat such activity. 

17 (2) REQUIRED CONSIDERATIONS.—In con18 ducting the study under paragraph (1), the Comp19 troller General shall examine— 

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

21 on misleading or inaccurate caller identification 

22 information; 

23 (B) previous and current enforcement ac24 tions by the Commission and the Federal Trade 

25 Commission to combat the practices prohibited 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

HR 423 RFS

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

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

3 (C) current efforts by industry groups and 

4 other entities to develop technical standards to 

5 deter or prevent the fraudulent provision of 

6 misleading or inaccurate caller identification in7 formation, and how such standards may help 

8 combat the current and future provision of mis9 leading or inaccurate caller identification infor10 mation; and 

11 (D) whether there are additional actions 

12 the Commission, the Federal Trade Commis13 sion, and Congress should take to combat the 

14 fraudulent provision of misleading or inaccurate 

15 caller identification information. 

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

17 the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

18 General shall submit to the Committee on Energy 

19 and Commerce of the House of Representatives and 

20 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans21 portation of the Senate a report on the findings of 

22 the study under paragraph (1), including any rec23 ommendations regarding combating the fraudulent 

24 provision of misleading or inaccurate caller identi25 fication information. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
9 

HR 423 RFS

1 (d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec2 tion, or the amendments made by this section, shall be 

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

4 order adopted by the Commission in connection with— 

5 (1) the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 

6 1991 (Public Law 102–243; 105 Stat. 2394) or the 

7 amendments made by that Act; or 

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

9 7701 et seq.). 

10 (e) COMMISSION DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

11 ‘‘Commission’’ means the Federal Communications Com12 mission. 

Passed the House of Representatives January 23, 

2017. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS