[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 30 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

  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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION REGARDING MANIPULATION OF CALLER IDENTIFICATION 
              INFORMATION.

    Section 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227) is 
amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (e), (f), and (g) as 
        subsections (f), (g), and (h), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(e) Prohibition on Provision of Inaccurate Caller Identification 
Information.--
            ``(1) In general.--It shall be unlawful for any person 
        within the United States, in connection with any 
        telecommunications service or IP-enabled voice service, to 
        cause any caller identification service to knowingly transmit 
        misleading or inaccurate caller identification information with 
        the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain 
        anything of value, unless such transmission is exempted 
        pursuant to paragraph (3)(B).
            ``(2) Protection for blocking caller identification 
        information.--Nothing in this subsection may be construed to 
        prevent or restrict any person from blocking the capability of 
        any caller identification service to transmit caller 
        identification information.
            ``(3) Regulations.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Not later than 6 months after 
                the date of enactment of the Truth in Caller ID Act of 
                2009, the Commission shall prescribe regulations to 
                implement this subsection.
                    ``(B) Content of regulations.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The regulations required 
                        under subparagraph (A) shall include such 
                        exemptions from the prohibition under paragraph 
                        (1) as the Commission determines is 
                        appropriate.
                            ``(ii) Specific exemption for law 
                        enforcement agencies or court orders.--The 
                        regulations required under subparagraph (A) 
                        shall exempt from the prohibition under 
                        paragraph (1) transmissions in connection 
                        with--
                                    ``(I) any authorized activity of a 
                                law enforcement agency; or
                                    ``(II) a court order that 
                                specifically authorizes the use of 
                                caller identification manipulation.
                            ``(iii) Effect on other laws.--Nothing in 
                        this subsection shall be construed to authorize 
                        or prohibit any investigative, protective, or 
                        intelligence activities performed in connection 
                        with official duties and in accordance with all 
                        applicable laws, by a law enforcement agency of 
                        the United States, a State, or a political 
                        subdivision of a State, or by an intelligence 
                        agency of the United States.
            ``(4) Report.--Not later than 6 months after the enactment 
        of the Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009, the Commission shall 
        report to Congress whether additional legislation is necessary 
        to prohibit the provision of inaccurate caller identification 
        information in technologies that are successor or replacement 
        technologies to telecommunications service or IP-enabled voice 
        service.
            ``(5) Penalties.--
                    ``(A) Civil forfeiture.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Any person that is 
                        determined by the Commission, in accordance 
                        with paragraphs (3) and (4) of section 503(b), 
                        to have violated this subsection shall be 
                        liable to the United States for a forfeiture 
                        penalty. A forfeiture penalty under this 
                        paragraph shall be in addition to any other 
                        penalty provided for by this Act. The amount of 
                        the forfeiture penalty determined under this 
                        paragraph shall not exceed $10,000 for each 
                        violation, or 3 times that amount for each day 
                        of a continuing violation, except that the 
                        amount assessed for any continuing violation 
                        shall not exceed a total of $1,000,000 for any 
                        single act or failure to act.
                            ``(ii) Recovery.--Any forfeiture penalty 
                        determined under clause (i) shall be 
                        recoverable pursuant to section 504(a).
                            ``(iii) Procedure.--No forfeiture liability 
                        shall be determined under clause (i) against 
                        any person unless such person receives the 
                        notice required by section 503(b)(3) or section 
                        503(b)(4).
                            ``(iv) 2-year statute of limitations.--No 
                        forfeiture penalty shall be determined or 
                        imposed against any person under clause (i) if 
                        the violation charged occurred more than 2 
                        years prior to the date of issuance of the 
                        required notice or notice or apparent 
                        liability.
                    ``(B) Criminal fine.--Any person who willfully and 
                knowingly violates this subsection shall upon 
                conviction thereof be fined not more than $10,000 for 
                each violation, or 3 times that amount for each day of 
                a continuing violation, in lieu of the fine provided by 
                section 501 for such a violation. This subparagraph 
                does not supersede the provisions of section 501 
                relating to imprisonment or the imposition of a penalty 
                of both fine and imprisonment.
            ``(6) Enforcement by states.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The chief legal officer of a 
                State, or any other State officer authorized by law to 
                bring actions on behalf of the residents of a State, 
                may bring a civil action, as parens patriae, on behalf 
                of the residents of that State in an appropriate 
                district court of the United States to enforce this 
                subsection or to impose the civil penalties for 
                violation of this subsection, whenever the chief legal 
                officer or other State officer has reason to believe 
                that the interests of the residents of the State have 
                been or are being threatened or adversely affected by a 
                violation of this subsection or a regulation under this 
                subsection.
                    ``(B) Notice.--The chief legal officer or other 
                State officer shall serve written notice on the 
                Commission of any civil action under subparagraph (A) 
                prior to initiating such civil action. The notice shall 
                include a copy of the complaint to be filed to initiate 
                such civil action, except that if it is not feasible 
                for the State to provide such prior notice, the State 
                shall provide such notice immediately upon instituting 
                such civil action.
                    ``(C) Authority to intervene.--Upon receiving the 
                notice required by subparagraph (B), the Commission 
                shall have the right--
                            ``(i) to intervene in the action;
                            ``(ii) upon so intervening, to be heard on 
                        all matters arising therein; and
                            ``(iii) to file petitions for appeal.
                    ``(D) Construction.--For purposes of bringing any 
                civil action under subparagraph (A), nothing in this 
                paragraph shall prevent the chief legal officer or 
                other State officer from exercising the powers 
                conferred on that officer by the laws of such State to 
                conduct investigations or to administer oaths or 
                affirmations or to compel the attendance of witnesses 
                or the production of documentary and other evidence.
                    ``(E) Venue; service or process.--
                            ``(i) Venue.--An action brought under 
                        subparagraph (A) shall be brought in a district 
                        court of the United States that meets 
                        applicable requirements relating to venue under 
                        section 1391 of title 28, United States Code.
                            ``(ii) Service of process.--In an action 
                        brought under subparagraph (A)--
                                    ``(I) process may be served without 
                                regard to the territorial limits of the 
                                district or of the State in which the 
                                action is instituted; and
                                    ``(II) a person who participated in 
                                an alleged violation that is being 
                                litigated in the civil action may be 
                                joined in the civil action without 
                                regard to the residence of the person.
            ``(7) Definitions.--For purposes of this subsection:
                    ``(A) Caller identification information.--The term 
                `caller identification information' means information 
                provided by a caller identification service regarding 
                the telephone number of, or other information regarding 
                the origination of, a call made using a 
                telecommunications service or IP-enabled voice service.
                    ``(B) Caller identification service.--The term 
                `caller identification service' means any service or 
                device designed to provide the user of the service or 
                device with the telephone number of, or other 
                information regarding the origination of, a call made 
                using a telecommunications service or IP-enabled voice 
                service. Such term includes automatic number 
                identification services.
                    ``(C) IP-enabled voice service.--The term `IP-
                enabled voice service' has the meaning given that term 
                by section 9.3 of the Commission's regulations (47 
                C.F.R. 9.3), as those regulations may be amended by the 
                Commission from time to time.
            ``(8) Limitation.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        this section, subsection (f) shall not apply to this subsection 
        or to the regulations under this subsection.''.
                                 <all>