II 

Calendar No. 519 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 704 

[Report No. 110–234] 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit manipulation of 

caller identification information. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2007 

Mr. NELSON of Florida (for himself, Ms. SNOWE, Mrs. MCCASKILL, Mr. STEVENS, and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

DECEMBER 5, 2007 

Reported by Mr. INOUYE, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit 

manipulation of caller identification information. 

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 ‘‘Truth in Caller ID 

5 Act of 2007’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION REGARDING MANIPULATION OF 

2 CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION. 

3 Section 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

4 U.S.C. 227) is amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating subsections (e), (f), and 

6 (g) as subsections (f), (g), and (h), respectively; and 

7 (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol8 lowing new subsection: 

9 ‘‘(e) PROHIBITION ON PROVISION OF INACCURATE

10 CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any 

12 person within the United States, in connection with 

13 any telecommunications service or IP-enabled voice 

14 service, to cause any caller identification service to 

15 transmit misleading or inaccurate caller identifica16 tion information, unless such transmission is ex17 empted pursuant to paragraph (3)(B). 

18 ‘‘(2) PROTECTION FOR BLOCKING CALLER

19 IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION.—Nothing in this 

20 subsection may be construed to prevent or restrict 

21 any person from blocking the capability of any caller 

22 identification service to transmit caller identification 

23 information. 

24 ‘‘(3) REGULATIONS.— 

25 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 

26 months after the enactment of this subsection, 


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1 the Commission shall prescribe regulations to 

2 implement this subsection. 

3 ‘‘(B) CONTENT OF REGULATIONS.— 

4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The regulations 

5 required under subparagraph (A) shall in6 clude such exemptions from the prohibition 

7 under paragraph (1) as the Commission 

8 determines appropriate. 

9 ‘‘(ii) SPECIFIC EXEMPTION FOR LAW

10 ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES OR COURT OR11 DERS.—The regulations required under 

12 subparagraph (A) shall exempt from the 

13 prohibition under paragraph (1) trans14 missions in connection with— 

15 ‘‘(I) any authorized activity of a 

16 law enforcement agency; or 

17 ‘‘(II) a court order that specifi18 cally authorizes the use of caller iden19 tification manipulation. 

20 ‘‘(4) REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after 

21 the enactment of this subsection, the Commission 

22 shall report to Congress whether additional legisla23 tion is necessary to prohibit the provision of inac24 curate caller identification information in tech25 nologies that are successor or replacement techVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:04 Dec 06, 2007 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S704.RS S704

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1 nologies to telecommunications service or IP-enabled 

2 voice service. 

3 ‘‘(5) PENALTIES.— 

4 ‘‘(A) CIVIL FORFEITURE.— 

5 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Any person that is 

6 determined by the Commission, in accord7 ance with paragraphs (3) and (4) of sec8 tion 503(b), to have violated this sub9 section shall be liable to the United States 

10 for a forfeiture penalty. A forfeiture pen11 alty under this paragraph shall be in addi12 tion to any other penalty provided for by 

13 this Act. The amount of the forfeiture pen14 alty determined under this paragraph shall 

15 not exceed $10,000 for each violation, or 3 

16 times that amount for each day of a con17 tinuing violation, except that the amount 

18 assessed for any continuing violation shall 

19 not exceed a total of $1,000,000 for any 

20 single act or failure to act. 

21 ‘‘(ii) RECOVERY.—Any forfeiture pen22 alty determined under clause (i) shall be 

23 recoverable pursuant to section 504(a). 

24 ‘‘(iii) PROCEDURE.—No forfeiture li25 ability shall be determined under clause (i) 


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1 against any person unless such person re2 ceives the notice required by section 

3 503(b)(3) or section 503(b)(4). 

4 ‘‘(iv) 2-YEAR STATUTE OF LIMITA5 TIONS.—No forfeiture penalty shall be de6 termined or imposed against any person 

7 under clause (i) if the violation charged oc8 curred more than 2 years prior to the date 

9 of issuance of the required notice or notice 

10 or apparent liability. 

11 ‘‘(B) CRIMINAL FINE.—Any person who 

12 willfully and knowingly violates this subsection 

13 shall upon conviction thereof be fined not more 

14 than $10,000 for each violation, or 3 times that 

15 amount for each day of a continuing violation, 

16 in lieu of the fine provided by section 501 for 

17 such a violation. This subparagraph does not 

18 supersede the provisions of section 501 relating 

19 to imprisonment or the imposition of a penalty 

20 of both fine and imprisonment. 

21 ‘‘(6) ENFORCEMENT BY STATES.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The chief legal officer 

23 of a State, or any other State officer authorized 

24 by law to bring actions on behalf of the resi25 dents of a State, may bring a civil action, as 


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1 parens patriae, on behalf of the residents of 

2 that State in an appropriate district court of 

3 the United States to enforce this subsection or 

4 to impose the civil penalties for violation of this 

5 subsection, whenever the chief legal officer or 

6 other State officer has reason to believe that 

7 the interests of the residents of the State have 

8 been or are being threatened or adversely af9 fected by a violation of this subsection or a reg10 ulation under this subsection. 

11 ‘‘(B) NOTICE.—The chief legal officer or 

12 other State officer shall serve written notice on 

13 the Commission of any civil action under sub14 paragraph (A) prior to initiating such civil ac15 tion. The notice shall include a copy of the com16 plaint to be filed to initiate such civil action, ex17 cept that if it is not feasible for the State to 

18 provide such prior notice, the State shall pro19 vide such notice immediately upon instituting 

20 such civil action. 

21 ‘‘(C) AUTHORITY TO INTERVENE.—Upon 

22 receiving the notice required by subparagraph 

23 (B), the Commission may intervene in such civil 

24 action and upon intervening— 


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1 ‘‘(i) be heard on all matters arising in 

2 such civil action; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) file petitions for appeal of a deci4 sion in such civil action. 

5 ‘‘(D) CONSTRUCTION.—For purposes of 

6 bringing any civil action under subparagraph 

7 (A), nothing in this paragraph shall prevent the 

8 chief legal officer or other State officer from ex9 ercising the powers conferred on that officer by 

10 the laws of such State to conduct investigations 

11 or to administer oaths or affirmations or to 

12 compel the attendance of witnesses or the pro13 duction of documentary and other evidence. 

14 ‘‘(E) VENUE; SERVICE OR PROCESS.— 

15 ‘‘(i) VENUE.—An action brought 

16 under subparagraph (A) shall be brought 

17 in a district court of the United States 

18 that meets applicable requirements relating 

19 to venue under section 1391 of title 28, 

20 United States Code. 

21 ‘‘(ii) SERVICE OF PROCESS.—In an 

22 action brought under subparagraph (A)— 

23 ‘‘(I) process may be served with24 out regard to the territorial limits of 


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1 the district or of the State in which 

2 the action is instituted; and 

3 ‘‘(II) a person who participated 

4 in an alleged violation that is being 

5 litigated in the civil action may be 

6 joined in the civil action without re7 gard to the residence of the person. 

8 ‘‘(F) LIMITATION ON STATE ACTION

9 WHILE FEDERAL ACTION IS PENDING.—If the 

10 Commission has instituted an enforcement ac11 tion or proceeding for violation of this sub12 section, the chief legal officer or other State of13 ficer of the State in which the violation oc14 curred may not bring an action under this sec15 tion during the pendency of the proceeding 

16 against any person with respect to whom the 

17 Commission has instituted the proceeding. 

18 ‘‘(7) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub19 section: 

20 ‘‘(A) CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMA21 TION.—The term ‘caller identification informa22 tion’ means information provided by a caller 

23 identification service regarding the telephone 

24 number of, or other information regarding the 


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1 origination of, a call made using a telecommuni2 cations service or IP-enabled voice service. 

3 ‘‘(B) CALLER IDENTIFICATION SERVICE.— 

4 The term ‘caller identification service’ means 

5 any service or device designed to provide the 

6 user of the service or device with the telephone 

7 number of, or other information regarding the 

8 origination of, a call made using a telecommuni9 cations service or IP-enabled voice service. Such 

10 term includes automatic number identification 

11 services. 

12 ‘‘(C) IP-ENABLED VOICE SERVICE.—The 

13 term ‘IP-enabled voice service’ means the provi14 sion of real-time 2-way voice communications 

15 offered to the public, or such classes of users as 

16 to be effectively available to the public, trans17 mitted through customer premises equipment 

18 using TCP/IP protocol, or a successor protocol, 

19 for a fee (whether part of a bundle of services 

20 or separately) with interconnection capability 

21 such that the service can originate traffic to, or 

22 terminate traffic from, the public switched tele23 phone network. 

24 ‘‘(8) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding any other 

25 provision of this section, subsection (f) shall not 


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1 apply to this subsection or to the regulations under 

2 this subsection.’’ 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Truth in Caller ID Act 

5 of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION REGARDING MANIPULATION OF CALL7 ER IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION. 

8 Section 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

9 U.S.C. 227) is amended— 

10 (1) by redesignating subsections (e), (f), and (g) 

11 as subsections (f), (g), and (h), respectively; and 

12 (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the following 

13 new subsection: 

14 ‘‘(e) PROHIBITION ON PROVISION OF INACCURATE

15 CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any 

17 person within the United States, in connection with 

18 any telecommunications service or IP-enabled voice 

19 service, to cause any caller identification service to 

20 knowingly transmit misleading or inaccurate caller 

21 identification information with the intent to defraud, 

22 cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value, 

23 unless such transmission is exempted pursuant to 

24 paragraph (3)(B). 


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1 ‘‘(2) PROTECTION FOR BLOCKING CALLER IDEN2 TIFICATION INFORMATION.—Nothing in this sub3 section may be construed to prevent or restrict any 

4 person from blocking the capability of any caller 

5 identification service to transmit caller identification 

6 information. 

7 ‘‘(3) REGULATIONS.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 

9 months after the date of enactment of the Truth 

10 in Caller ID Act of 2007, the Commission shall 

11 prescribe regulations to implement this sub12 section. 

13 ‘‘(B) CONTENT OF REGULATIONS.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The regulations re15 quired under subparagraph (A) shall in16 clude such exemptions from the prohibition 

17 under paragraph (1) as the Commission de18 termines is appropriate. 

19 ‘‘(ii) SPECIFIC EXEMPTION FOR LAW

20 ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES OR COURT OR21 DERS.—The regulations required under sub22 paragraph (A) shall exempt from the prohi23 bition under paragraph (1) transmissions 

24 in connection with— 


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1 ‘‘(I) any authorized activity of a 

2 law enforcement agency; or 

3 ‘‘(II) a court order that specifi4 cally authorizes the use of caller identi5 fication manipulation. 

6 ‘‘(iii) EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.— 

7 Nothing in this subsection shall be construed 

8 to authorize or prohibit any investigative, 

9 protective, or intelligence activities per10 formed in connection with official duties 

11 and in accordance with all applicable laws, 

12 by a law enforcement agency of the United 

13 States, a State, or a political subdivision of 

14 a State, or by an intelligence agency of the 

15 United States. 

16 ‘‘(4) REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after the 

17 enactment of the Truth in Caller ID Act of 2007, the 

18 Commission shall report to Congress whether addi19 tional legislation is necessary to prohibit the provi20 sion of inaccurate caller identification information in 

21 technologies that are successor or replacement tech22 nologies to telecommunications service or IP-enabled 

23 voice service. 

24 ‘‘(5) PENALTIES.— 

25 ‘‘(A) CIVIL FORFEITURE.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Any person that is 

2 determined by the Commission, in accord3 ance with paragraphs (3) and (4) of section 

4 503(b), to have violated this subsection shall 

5 be liable to the United States for a forfeiture 

6 penalty. A forfeiture penalty under this 

7 paragraph shall be in addition to any other 

8 penalty provided for by this Act. The 

9 amount of the forfeiture penalty determined 

10 under this paragraph shall not exceed 

11 $10,000 for each violation, or 3 times that 

12 amount for each day of a continuing viola13 tion, except that the amount assessed for 

14 any continuing violation shall not exceed a 

15 total of $1,000,000 for any single act or 

16 failure to act. 

17 ‘‘(ii) RECOVERY.—Any forfeiture pen18 alty determined under clause (i) shall be re19 coverable pursuant to section 504(a). 

20 ‘‘(iii) PROCEDURE.—No forfeiture li21 ability shall be determined under clause (i) 

22 against any person unless such person re23 ceives the notice required by section 

24 503(b)(3) or section 503(b)(4). 


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1 ‘‘(iv) 2-YEAR STATUTE OF LIMITA2 TIONS.—No forfeiture penalty shall be deter3 mined or imposed against any person under 

4 clause (i) if the violation charged occurred 

5 more than 2 years prior to the date of 

6 issuance of the required notice or notice or 

7 apparent liability. 

8 ‘‘(B) CRIMINAL FINE.—Any person who 

9 willfully and knowingly violates this subsection 

10 shall upon conviction thereof be fined not more 

11 than $10,000 for each violation, or 3 times that 

12 amount for each day of a continuing violation, 

13 in lieu of the fine provided by section 501 for 

14 such a violation. This subparagraph does not su15 persede the provisions of section 501 relating to 

16 imprisonment or the imposition of a penalty of 

17 both fine and imprisonment. 

18 ‘‘(6) ENFORCEMENT BY STATES.— 

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The chief legal officer of 

20 a State, or any other State officer authorized by 

21 law to bring actions on behalf of the residents of 

22 a State, may bring a civil action, as parens 

23 patriae, on behalf of the residents of that State 

24 in an appropriate district court of the United 

25 States to enforce this subsection or to impose the 


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1 civil penalties for violation of this subsection, 

2 whenever the chief legal officer or other State of3 ficer has reason to believe that the interests of the 

4 residents of the State have been or are being 

5 threatened or adversely affected by a violation of 

6 this subsection or a regulation under this sub7 section. 

8 ‘‘(B) NOTICE.—The chief legal officer or 

9 other State officer shall serve written notice on 

10 the Commission of any civil action under sub11 paragraph (A) prior to initiating such civil ac12 tion. The notice shall include a copy of the com13 plaint to be filed to initiate such civil action, ex14 cept that if it is not feasible for the State to pro15 vide such prior notice, the State shall provide 

16 such notice immediately upon instituting such 

17 civil action. 

18 ‘‘(C) AUTHORITY TO INTERVENE.—Upon re19 ceiving the notice required by subparagraph (B), 

20 the Commission shall have the right— 

21 ‘‘(i) to intervene in the action; 

22 ‘‘(ii) upon so intervening, to be heard 

23 on all matters arising therein; and 

24 ‘‘(iii) to file petitions for appeal. 


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1 ‘‘(D) CONSTRUCTION.—For purposes of 

2 bringing any civil action under subparagraph 

3 (A), nothing in this paragraph shall prevent the 

4 chief legal officer or other State officer from exer5 cising the powers conferred on that officer by the 

6 laws of such State to conduct investigations or to 

7 administer oaths or affirmations or to compel 

8 the attendance of witnesses or the production of 

9 documentary and other evidence. 

10 ‘‘(E) VENUE; SERVICE OR PROCESS.— 

11 ‘‘(i) VENUE.—An action brought under 

12 subparagraph (A) shall be brought in a dis13 trict court of the United States that meets 

14 applicable requirements relating to venue 

15 under section 1391 of title 28, United States 

16 Code. 

17 ‘‘(ii) SERVICE OF PROCESS.—In an ac18 tion brought under subparagraph (A)— 

19 ‘‘(I) process may be served with20 out regard to the territorial limits of 

21 the district or of the State in which the 

22 action is instituted; and 

23 ‘‘(II) a person who participated 

24 in an alleged violation that is being 

25 litigated in the civil action may be 


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1 joined in the civil action without re2 gard to the residence of the person. 

3 ‘‘(7) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub4 section: 

5 ‘‘(A) CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMA6 TION.—The term ‘caller identification informa7 tion’ means information provided by a caller 

8 identification service regarding the telephone 

9 number of, or other information regarding the 

10 origination of, a call made using a telecommuni11 cations service or IP-enabled voice service. 

12 ‘‘(B) CALLER IDENTIFICATION SERVICE.— 

13 The term ‘caller identification service’ means 

14 any service or device designed to provide the user 

15 of the service or device with the telephone number 

16 of, or other information regarding the origina17 tion of, a call made using a telecommunications 

18 service or IP-enabled voice service. Such term in19 cludes automatic number identification services. 

20 ‘‘(C) IP-ENABLED VOICE SERVICE.—The 

21 term ‘IP-enabled voice service’ has the meaning 

22 given that term by section 9.3 of the Commis23 sion’s regulations (47 C.F.R. 9.3), as those regu24 lations may be amended by the Commission from 

25 time to time. 


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1 ‘‘(8) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding any other 

2 provision of this section, subsection (f) shall not apply 

3 to this subsection or to the regulations under this sub4 section.’’ 


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Calendar No. 519 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 704 

[Report No. 110

–234] 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to promation. hibit manipulation of caller identification inforDECEMBER 5, 2007 

Reported with an amendment 


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