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Calendar No. 194 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 30 

[Report No. 111–96] 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit manipulation of 

caller identification information. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 7, 2009 

Mr. NELSON of Florida (for himself, Ms. SNOWE, Mrs. MCCASKILL, and Ms. 

KLOBUCHAR) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

NOVEMBER 2, 2009 

Reported by Mr. ROCKEFELLER, without amendment 

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 2009’’. 


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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 knowingly transmit misleading or inaccurate caller 

16 identification information with the intent to defraud, 

17 cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value, 

18 unless such transmission is exempted pursuant to 

19 paragraph (3)(B). 

20 ‘‘(2) PROTECTION FOR BLOCKING CALLER

21 IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION.—Nothing in this 

22 subsection may be construed to prevent or restrict 

23 any person from blocking the capability of any caller 

24 identification service to transmit caller identification 

25 information. 

26 ‘‘(3) REGULATIONS.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 

2 months after the date of enactment of the 

3 Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009, the Commis4 sion shall prescribe regulations to implement 

5 this subsection. 

6 ‘‘(B) CONTENT OF REGULATIONS.— 

7 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The regulations 

8 required under subparagraph (A) shall in9 clude such exemptions from the prohibition 

10 under paragraph (1) as the Commission 

11 determines is appropriate. 

12 ‘‘(ii) SPECIFIC EXEMPTION FOR LAW

13 ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES OR COURT OR14 DERS.—The regulations required under 

15 subparagraph (A) shall exempt from the 

16 prohibition under paragraph (1) trans17 missions in connection with— 

18 ‘‘(I) any authorized activity of a 

19 law enforcement agency; or 

20 ‘‘(II) a court order that specifi21 cally authorizes the use of caller iden22 tification manipulation. 

23 ‘‘(iii) EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.— 

24 Nothing in this subsection shall be con25 strued to authorize or prohibit any invesVerDate Nov 24 2008 23:37 Nov 02, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S30.RS S30

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1 tigative, protective, or intelligence activities 

2 performed in connection with official duties 

3 and in accordance with all applicable laws, 

4 by a law enforcement agency of the United 

5 States, a State, or a political subdivision of 

6 a State, or by an intelligence agency of the 

7 United States. 

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

9 the enactment of the Truth in Caller ID Act of 

10 2009, the Commission shall report to Congress 

11 whether additional legislation is necessary to pro12 hibit the provision of inaccurate caller identification 

13 information in technologies that are successor or re14 placement technologies to telecommunications service 

15 or IP-enabled voice service. 

16 ‘‘(5) PENALTIES.— 

17 ‘‘(A) CIVIL FORFEITURE.— 

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

19 determined by the Commission, in accord20 ance with paragraphs (3) and (4) of sec21 tion 503(b), to have violated this sub22 section shall be liable to the United States 

23 for a forfeiture penalty. A forfeiture pen24 alty under this paragraph shall be in addi25 tion to any other penalty provided for by 


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1 this Act. The amount of the forfeiture pen2 alty determined under this paragraph shall 

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

4 times that amount for each day of a con5 tinuing violation, except that the amount 

6 assessed for any continuing violation shall 

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

8 single act or failure to act. 

9 ‘‘(ii) RECOVERY.—Any forfeiture pen10 alty determined under clause (i) shall be 

11 recoverable pursuant to section 504(a). 

12 ‘‘(iii) PROCEDURE.—No forfeiture li13 ability shall be determined under clause (i) 

14 against any person unless such person re15 ceives the notice required by section 

16 503(b)(3) or section 503(b)(4). 

17 ‘‘(iv) 2-YEAR STATUTE OF LIMITA18 TIONS.—No forfeiture penalty shall be de19 termined or imposed against any person 

20 under clause (i) if the violation charged oc21 curred more than 2 years prior to the date 

22 of issuance of the required notice or notice 

23 or apparent liability. 

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

25 willfully and knowingly violates this subsection 


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1 shall upon conviction thereof be fined not more 

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

3 amount for each day of a continuing violation, 

4 in lieu of the fine provided by section 501 for 

5 such a violation. This subparagraph does not 

6 supersede the provisions of section 501 relating 

7 to imprisonment or the imposition of a penalty 

8 of both fine and imprisonment. 

9 ‘‘(6) ENFORCEMENT BY STATES.— 

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

11 of a State, or any other State officer authorized 

12 by law to bring actions on behalf of the resi13 dents of a State, may bring a civil action, as 

14 parens patriae, on behalf of the residents of 

15 that State in an appropriate district court of 

16 the United States to enforce this subsection or 

17 to impose the civil penalties for violation of this 

18 subsection, whenever the chief legal officer or 

19 other State officer has reason to believe that 

20 the interests of the residents of the State have 

21 been or are being threatened or adversely af22 fected by a violation of this subsection or a reg23 ulation under this subsection. 

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

25 other State officer shall serve written notice on 


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1 the Commission of any civil action under sub2 paragraph (A) prior to initiating such civil ac3 tion. The notice shall include a copy of the com4 plaint to be filed to initiate such civil action, ex5 cept that if it is not feasible for the State to 

6 provide such prior notice, the State shall pro7 vide such notice immediately upon instituting 

8 such civil action. 

9 ‘‘(C) AUTHORITY TO INTERVENE.—Upon 

10 receiving the notice required by subparagraph 

11 (B), the Commission shall have the right— 

12 ‘‘(i) to intervene in the action; 

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

14 on all matters arising therein; and 

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

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

17 bringing any civil action under subparagraph 

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

19 chief legal officer or other State officer from ex20 ercising the powers conferred on that officer by 

21 the laws of such State to conduct investigations 

22 or to administer oaths or affirmations or to 

23 compel the attendance of witnesses or the pro24 duction of documentary and other evidence. 

25 ‘‘(E) VENUE; SERVICE OR PROCESS.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) VENUE.—An action brought 

2 under subparagraph (A) shall be brought 

3 in a district court of the United States 

4 that meets applicable requirements relating 

5 to venue under section 1391 of title 28, 

6 United States Code. 

7 ‘‘(ii) SERVICE OF PROCESS.—In an 

8 action brought under subparagraph (A)— 

9 ‘‘(I) process may be served with10 out regard to the territorial limits of 

11 the district or of the State in which 

12 the action is instituted; and 

13 ‘‘(II) a person who participated 

14 in an alleged violation that is being 

15 litigated in the civil action may be 

16 joined in the civil action without re17 gard to the residence of the person. 

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’ has the meaning 

14 given that term by section 9.3 of the Commis15 sion’s regulations (47 C.F.R. 9.3), as those reg16 ulations may be amended by the Commission 

17 from time to time. 

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

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

20 apply to this subsection or to the regulations under 

21 this subsection.’’. 


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Calendar No. 194 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 30 

[Report No. 111–96] 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to promation. hibit manipulation of caller identification inforNOVEMBER 2, 2009 

Reported without amendment 


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