II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 30 

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 

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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION REGARDING MANIPULATION OF 

7 CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION. 

8 Section 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

9 U.S.C. 227) is amended— 


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

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

3 (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol4 lowing new subsection: 

5 ‘‘(e) PROHIBITION ON PROVISION OF INACCURATE

6 CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION.— 

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

8 person within the United States, in connection with 

9 any telecommunications service or IP-enabled voice 

10 service, to cause any caller identification service to 

11 knowingly transmit misleading or inaccurate caller 

12 identification information with the intent to defraud, 

13 cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value, 

14 unless such transmission is exempted pursuant to 

15 paragraph (3)(B). 

16 ‘‘(2) PROTECTION FOR BLOCKING CALLER

17 IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION.—Nothing in this 

18 subsection may be construed to prevent or restrict 

19 any person from blocking the capability of any caller 

20 identification service to transmit caller identification 

21 information. 

22 ‘‘(3) REGULATIONS.— 

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

24 months after the date of enactment of the 

25 Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009, the CommisVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:01 Jan 09, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S30.IS S30

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1 sion shall prescribe regulations to implement 

2 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 is 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 ‘‘(iii) EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.— 

21 Nothing in this subsection shall be con22 strued to authorize or prohibit any inves23 tigative, protective, or intelligence activities 

24 performed in connection with official duties 

25 and in accordance with all applicable laws, 


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1 by a law enforcement agency of the United 

2 States, a State, or a political subdivision of 

3 a State, or by an intelligence agency of the 

4 United States. 

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

6 the enactment of the Truth in Caller ID Act of 

7 2009, the Commission shall report to Congress 

8 whether additional legislation is necessary to pro9 hibit the provision of inaccurate caller identification 

10 information in technologies that are successor or re11 placement technologies to telecommunications service 

12 or IP-enabled voice service. 

13 ‘‘(5) PENALTIES.— 

14 ‘‘(A) CIVIL FORFEITURE.— 

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

16 determined by the Commission, in accord17 ance with paragraphs (3) and (4) of sec18 tion 503(b), to have violated this sub19 section shall be liable to the United States 

20 for a forfeiture penalty. A forfeiture pen21 alty under this paragraph shall be in addi22 tion to any other penalty provided for by 

23 this Act. The amount of the forfeiture pen24 alty determined under this paragraph shall 

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


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1 times that amount for each day of a con2 tinuing violation, except that the amount 

3 assessed for any continuing violation shall 

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

5 single act or failure to act. 

6 ‘‘(ii) RECOVERY.—Any forfeiture pen7 alty determined under clause (i) shall be 

8 recoverable pursuant to section 504(a). 

9 ‘‘(iii) PROCEDURE.—No forfeiture li10 ability shall be determined under clause (i) 

11 against any person unless such person re12 ceives the notice required by section 

13 503(b)(3) or section 503(b)(4). 

14 ‘‘(iv) 2-YEAR STATUTE OF LIMITA15 TIONS.—No forfeiture penalty shall be de16 termined or imposed against any person 

17 under clause (i) if the violation charged oc18 curred more than 2 years prior to the date 

19 of issuance of the required notice or notice 

20 or apparent liability. 

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

22 willfully and knowingly violates this subsection 

23 shall upon conviction thereof be fined not more 

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

25 amount for each day of a continuing violation, 


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1 in lieu of the fine provided by section 501 for 

2 such a violation. This subparagraph does not 

3 supersede the provisions of section 501 relating 

4 to imprisonment or the imposition of a penalty 

5 of both fine and imprisonment. 

6 ‘‘(6) ENFORCEMENT BY STATES.— 

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

8 of a State, or any other State officer authorized 

9 by law to bring actions on behalf of the resi10 dents of a State, may bring a civil action, as 

11 parens patriae, on behalf of the residents of 

12 that State in an appropriate district court of 

13 the United States to enforce this subsection or 

14 to impose the civil penalties for violation of this 

15 subsection, whenever the chief legal officer or 

16 other State officer has reason to believe that 

17 the interests of the residents of the State have 

18 been or are being threatened or adversely af19 fected by a violation of this subsection or a reg20 ulation under this subsection. 

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

22 other State officer shall serve written notice on 

23 the Commission of any civil action under sub24 paragraph (A) prior to initiating such civil ac25 tion. The notice shall include a copy of the comVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:01 Jan 09, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S30.IS S30

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1 plaint to be filed to initiate such civil action, ex2 cept that if it is not feasible for the State to 

3 provide such prior notice, the State shall pro4 vide such notice immediately upon instituting 

5 such civil action. 

6 ‘‘(C) AUTHORITY TO INTERVENE.—Upon 

7 receiving the notice required by subparagraph 

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

9 ‘‘(i) to intervene in the action; 

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

11 on all matters arising therein; and 

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

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

14 bringing any civil action under subparagraph 

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

16 chief legal officer or other State officer from ex17 ercising the powers conferred on that officer by 

18 the laws of such State to conduct investigations 

19 or to administer oaths or affirmations or to 

20 compel the attendance of witnesses or the pro21 duction of documentary and other evidence. 

22 ‘‘(E) VENUE; SERVICE OR PROCESS.— 

23 ‘‘(i) VENUE.—An action brought 

24 under subparagraph (A) shall be brought 

25 in a district court of the United States 


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1 that meets applicable requirements relating 

2 to venue under section 1391 of title 28, 

3 United States Code. 

4 ‘‘(ii) SERVICE OF PROCESS.—In an 

5 action brought under subparagraph (A)— 

6 ‘‘(I) process may be served with7 out regard to the territorial limits of 

8 the district or of the State in which 

9 the action is instituted; and 

10 ‘‘(II) a person who participated 

11 in an alleged violation that is being 

12 litigated in the civil action may be 

13 joined in the civil action without re14 gard to the residence of the person. 

15 ‘‘(7) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub16 section: 

17 ‘‘(A) CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMA18 TION.—The term ‘caller identification informa19 tion’ means information provided by a caller 

20 identification service regarding the telephone 

21 number of, or other information regarding the 

22 origination of, a call made using a telecommuni23 cations service or IP-enabled voice service. 

24 ‘‘(B) CALLER IDENTIFICATION SERVICE.— 

25 The term ‘caller identification service’ means 


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1 any service or device designed to provide the 

2 user of the service or device with the telephone 

3 number of, or other information regarding the 

4 origination of, a call made using a telecommuni5 cations service or IP-enabled voice service. Such 

6 term includes automatic number identification 

7 services. 

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

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

10 given that term by section 9.3 of the Commis11 sion’s regulations (47 C.F.R. 9.3), as those reg12 ulations may be amended by the Commission 

13 from time to time. 

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

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

16 apply to this subsection or to the regulations under 

17 this subsection.’’. 

Æ 


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