II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2956 

To prevent caller ID spoofing, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 20, 2014 

Mr. NELSON (for himself, Mr. DONNELLY, Ms. COLLINS, and Mr. BOOKER) 

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

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To prevent caller ID spoofing, 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 ‘‘Phone Scam Preven5 tion Act of 2014’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AVAILABILITY OF WHITELIST SERVICES. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part I of title II of the Commu8 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is amended 

9 by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 232. AVAILABILITY OF WHITELIST SERVICES. 

11 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 2956 IS

1 ‘‘(1) the term ‘voice service’ means any service 

2 that furnishes voice communications to an end user 

3 using resources from the North American Num4 bering Plan or any successor plan adopted by the 

5 Commission under section 251(e)(1); 

6 ‘‘(2) the term ‘exempt entity’ means— 

7 ‘‘(A) the Federal Government, a State, a 

8 political subdivision of a State, or an agency 

9 thereof; and 

10 ‘‘(B) any entity with respect to which the 

11 Commission determines that allowing calls that 

12 originate from that entity to connect directly 

13 with the voice service customer premises equip14 ment (commonly referred to as ‘CPE’) of a sub15 scriber would serve the public interest; and 

16 ‘‘(3) the term ‘whitelist’ means a list of tele17 phone numbers, designated by a subscriber, for 

18 which calls originating from those numbers to the 

19 subscriber are permitted to connect directly with the 

20 voice service CPE of the subscriber. 

21 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENT TO OFFER WHITELIST SERV22 ICE.—A provider of a voice service shall offer each sub23 scriber the option to designate a whitelist, if technically 

24 feasible (as determined by the Commission on a periodic 

25 basis). 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 2956 IS

1 ‘‘(c) TREATMENT OF NONAPPROVED TELEPHONE

2 NUMBERS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If a subscriber elects to 

4 designate a whitelist under subsection (b), the pro5 vider of the voice service of the subscriber shall en6 sure that any call the provider receives for termi7 nation that is not associated with a telephone num8 ber on the whitelist of the subscriber or the tele9 phone number of an exempt entity is processed ac10 cording to preferences set by the subscriber with re11 spect to the whitelist, including by limiting or dis12 abling the ability of an incoming call to connect with 

13 the CPE of the subscriber. 

14 ‘‘(2) SAFE HARBOR.—Whitelist processing that, 

15 in accordance with the preferences of a subscriber, 

16 limits or disables connection with the CPE of a sub17 scriber shall not be considered to be— 

18 ‘‘(A) blocking traffic; or 

19 ‘‘(B) an unjust or unreasonable practice 

20 under section 201 of the Communications Act 

21 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201). 

22 ‘‘(d) NUMBER OF TELEPHONE NUMBERS ON

23 WHITELIST FREE OF CHARGE.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A provider of a voice serv25 ice shall allow a subscriber (or a designated repVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:50 Nov 22, 2014 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2956.IS S2956

tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 2956 IS

1 resentative thereof) to designate not less than 10 

2 telephone numbers to be on the whitelist under sub3 section (b), free of charge. 

4 ‘‘(2) TELEPHONE NUMBERS OF EXEMPT ENTI5 TIES.—The telephone number of an exempt entity 

6 shall not be considered to be on the whitelist of a 

7 subscriber for purposes of calculating the 10 tele8 phone numbers that may be designated under para9 graph (1).’’. 

10 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 232 of the Commu11 nications Act of 1934, as added by subsection (a), shall 

12 take effect on the date that is 2 years after the date of 

13 enactment of this Act. 

14 SEC. 3. AUTHENTICATION OF CALL ORIGINATION. 

15 Part I of title II of the Communications Act of 1934 

16 (47 U.S.C. 201 et seq.), as amended by section 2, is 

17 amended by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 233. AUTHENTICATION OF CALL ORIGINATION. 

19 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘voice 

20 service’ means any service that furnishes voice commu21 nications to an end user using resources from the North 

22 American Numbering Plan or any successor plan adopted 

23 by the Commission under section 251(e)(1). 

24 ‘‘(b) DEVELOPMENT OF AUTHENTICATION STAND25 ARDS BY COMMISSION.—Not later than 5 years after the 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 2956 IS

1 date of enactment of the Phone Scam Prevention Act of 

2 2014, the Commission shall develop authentication stand3 ards for providers of a voice service to validate the calling 

4 party number and caller identification information of a 

5 call originated through a voice service so that the sub6 scriber receiving the call may obtain— 

7 ‘‘(1) a secure assurance of the origin of the call, 

8 including— 

9 ‘‘(A) the calling party number; and 

10 ‘‘(B) caller identification information for 

11 the call; or 

12 ‘‘(2) notice that an assurance described in para13 graph (1) is unavailable. 

14 ‘‘(c) ADOPTION OF AUTHENTICATION STANDARDS BY

15 ENTITIES.—Each provider of a voice service that is allo16 cated telephone numbers from the portion of the North 

17 American Numbering Plan that pertains to the United 

18 States shall adopt the authentication standards developed 

19 under subsection (b).’’. 

20 SEC. 4. EXPANDING AND CLARIFYING PROHIBITION ON IN21 ACCURATE CALLER ID INFORMATION. 

22 (a) COMMUNICATIONS FROM OUTSIDE THE UNITED

23 STATES.—Section 227(e)(1) of the Communications Act 

24 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(e)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘in 

25 connection with any telecommunications service or IP-enVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:50 Nov 22, 2014 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2956.IS S2956

tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 2956 IS

1 abled voice service’’ and inserting ‘‘or any person outside 

2 the United States if the recipient of the call is within the 

3 United States, in connection with any voice service’’. 

4 (b) COVERAGE OF TEXT MESSAGES AND OTHER

5 VOICE SERVICES.—Section 227(e)(8) of the Communica6 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(e)(8)) is amended— 

7 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘tele8 communications service or IP-enabled voice service’’ 

9 and inserting ‘‘voice service (including a text mes10 sage sent using a text messaging service)’’; 

11 (2) in the first sentence of subparagraph (B), 

12 by striking ‘‘telecommunications service or IP-en13 abled voice service’’ and inserting ‘‘voice service (in14 cluding a text message sent using a text messaging 

15 service)’’; and 

16 (3) by striking subparagraph (C) and inserting 

17 the following: 

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

19 message’— 

20 ‘‘(i) means a real-time or near real21 time message consisting of text, images, 

22 sounds, or other information that is trans23 mitted from or received by a device that is 

24 identified as the transmitting or receiving 

25 device by means of a telephone number; 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 2956 IS

1 ‘‘(ii) includes a short message service 

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

3 an enhanced message service (commonly 

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

5 multimedia message service (commonly re6 ferred to as ‘MMS’) message; and 

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

8 way voice or video communication. 

9 ‘‘(D) TEXT MESSAGING SERVICE.—The 

10 term ‘text messaging service’ means a service 

11 that permits the transmission or receipt of a 

12 text message, including a service provided as 

13 part of or in connection with a voice service. 

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

15 service’ means any service that furnishes voice 

16 communications to an end user using resources 

17 from the North American Numbering Plan or 

18 any successor plan adopted by the Commission 

19 under section 251(e)(1).’’. 

20 (c) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 

21 shall be construed to modify, limit, or otherwise affect— 

22 (1) the authority, as of the day before the date 

23 of enactment of this Act, of the Federal Communica24 tions Commission to interpret the term ‘‘call’’ to in25 clude a text message (as defined under section 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 2956 IS

1 227(e)(8) of the Communications Act of 1934, as 

2 added by subsection (b)); or 

3 (2) any rule or order adopted by the Federal 

4 Communications Commission in connection with— 

5 (A) the Telephone Consumer Protection 

6 Act of 1991 (Public Law 102–243; 105 Stat. 

7 2394) or the amendments made by that Act; or 

8 (B) the CAN–SPAM Act of 2003 (15 

9 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.). 

10 (d) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 18 months after 

11 the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Commu12 nications Commission shall prescribe regulations to imple13 ment the amendments made by this section. 

14 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

15 this section shall take effect on the date that is 6 months 

16 after the date on which the Federal Communications Com17 mission prescribes regulations under subsection (d). 

Æ 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS