I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 30 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 24, 2010 

Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

AN ACT 

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, 

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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

3 Act of 2009’’. 

4 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION REGARDING MANIPULATION OF 

5 CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION. 

6 Section 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

7 U.S.C. 227) is amended— 

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

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

10 (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol11 lowing new subsection: 

12 ‘‘(e) PROHIBITION ON PROVISION OF INACCURATE

13 CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION.— 

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

15 person within the United States, in connection with 

16 any telecommunications service or IP-enabled voice 

17 service, to cause any caller identification service to 

18 knowingly transmit misleading or inaccurate caller 

19 identification information with the intent to defraud, 

20 cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value, 

21 unless such transmission is exempted pursuant to 

22 paragraph (3)(B). 

23 ‘‘(2) PROTECTION FOR BLOCKING CALLER

24 IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION.—Nothing in this 

25 subsection may be construed to prevent or restrict 

26 any person from blocking the capability of any caller 

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1 identification service to transmit caller identification 

2 information. 

3 ‘‘(3) REGULATIONS.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 

5 months after the date of enactment of the 

6 Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009, the Commis7 sion shall prescribe regulations to implement 

8 this subsection. 

9 ‘‘(B) CONTENT OF REGULATIONS.— 

10 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The regulations 

11 required under subparagraph (A) shall in12 clude such exemptions from the prohibition 

13 under paragraph (1) as the Commission 

14 determines is appropriate. 

15 ‘‘(ii) SPECIFIC EXEMPTION FOR LAW

16 ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES OR COURT OR17 DERS.—The regulations required under 

18 subparagraph (A) shall exempt from the 

19 prohibition under paragraph (1) trans20 missions in connection with— 

21 ‘‘(I) any authorized activity of a 

22 law enforcement agency; or 

23 ‘‘(II) a court order that specifi24 cally authorizes the use of caller iden25 tification manipulation. 

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

2 the enactment of the Truth in Caller ID Act of 

3 2009, the Commission shall report to Congress 

4 whether additional legislation is necessary to pro5 hibit the provision of inaccurate caller identification 

6 information in technologies that are successor or re7 placement technologies to telecommunications service 

8 or IP-enabled voice service. 

9 ‘‘(5) PENALTIES.— 

10 ‘‘(A) CIVIL FORFEITURE.— 

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

12 determined by the Commission, in accord13 ance with paragraphs (3) and (4) of sec14 tion 503(b), to have violated this sub15 section shall be liable to the United States 

16 for a forfeiture penalty. A forfeiture pen17 alty under this paragraph shall be in addi18 tion to any other penalty provided for by 

19 this Act. The amount of the forfeiture pen20 alty determined under this paragraph shall 

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

22 times that amount for each day of a con23 tinuing violation, except that the amount 

24 assessed for any continuing violation shall 

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

2 single act or failure to act. 

3 ‘‘(ii) RECOVERY.—Any forfeiture pen4 alty determined under clause (i) shall be 

5 recoverable pursuant to section 504(a). 

6 ‘‘(iii) PROCEDURE.—No forfeiture li7 ability shall be determined under clause (i) 

8 against any person unless such person re9 ceives the notice required by section 

10 503(b)(3) or section 503(b)(4). 

11 ‘‘(iv) 2-YEAR STATUTE OF LIMITA12 TIONS.—No forfeiture penalty shall be de13 termined or imposed against any person 

14 under clause (i) if the violation charged oc15 curred more than 2 years prior to the date 

16 of issuance of the required notice or notice 

17 or apparent liability. 

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

19 willfully and knowingly violates this subsection 

20 shall upon conviction thereof be fined not more 

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

22 amount for each day of a continuing violation, 

23 in lieu of the fine provided by section 501 for 

24 such a violation. This subparagraph does not 

25 supersede the provisions of section 501 relating 

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1 to imprisonment or the imposition of a penalty 

2 of both fine and imprisonment. 

3 ‘‘(6) ENFORCEMENT BY STATES.— 

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

5 of a State, or any other State officer authorized 

6 by law to bring actions on behalf of the resi7 dents of a State, may bring a civil action, as 

8 parens patriae, on behalf of the residents of 

9 that State in an appropriate district court of 

10 the United States to enforce this subsection or 

11 to impose the civil penalties for violation of this 

12 subsection, whenever the chief legal officer or 

13 other State officer has reason to believe that 

14 the interests of the residents of the State have 

15 been or are being threatened or adversely af16 fected by a violation of this subsection or a reg17 ulation under this subsection. 

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

19 other State officer shall serve written notice on 

20 the Commission of any civil action under sub21 paragraph (A) prior to initiating such civil ac22 tion. The notice shall include a copy of the com23 plaint to be filed to initiate such civil action, ex24 cept that if it is not feasible for the State to 

25 provide such prior notice, the State shall promstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with BILLS

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1 vide such notice immediately upon instituting 

2 such civil action. 

3 ‘‘(C) AUTHORITY TO INTERVENE.—Upon 

4 receiving the notice required by subparagraph 

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

6 ‘‘(i) to intervene in the action; 

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

8 on all matters arising therein; and 

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

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

11 bringing any civil action under subparagraph 

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

13 chief legal officer or other State officer from ex14 ercising the powers conferred on that officer by 

15 the laws of such State to conduct investigations 

16 or to administer oaths or affirmations or to 

17 compel the attendance of witnesses or the pro18 duction of documentary and other evidence. 

19 ‘‘(E) VENUE; SERVICE OR PROCESS.— 

20 ‘‘(i) VENUE.—An action brought 

21 under subparagraph (A) shall be brought 

22 in a district court of the United States 

23 that meets applicable requirements relating 

24 to venue under section 1391 of title 28, 

25 United States Code. 

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1 ‘‘(ii) SERVICE OF PROCESS.—In an 

2 action brought under subparagraph (A)— 

3 ‘‘(I) process may be served with4 out regard to the territorial limits of 

5 the district or of the State in which 

6 the action is instituted; and 

7 ‘‘(II) a person who participated 

8 in an alleged violation that is being 

9 litigated in the civil action may be 

10 joined in the civil action without re11 gard to the residence of the person. 

12 ‘‘(7) EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.—This sub13 section does not prohibit any lawfully authorized in14 vestigative, protective, or intelligence activity of a 

15 law enforcement agency of the United States, a 

16 State, or a political subdivision of a State, or of an 

17 intelligence agency of the United States. 

18 ‘‘(8) 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 ‘‘(9) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding any other 

19 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.’’. 

Passed the Senate February 23, 2010. 

Attest: NANCY ERICKSON, 

Secretary. 

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