[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 99 (Tuesday, June 19, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7895-S7896]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. KYL:
  S. 1654. A bill to prohibit the sale or provision of caller ID 
spoofing services; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bill that would 
prohibit the sale or provision of caller ID spoofing services. This 
bill would enact a legislative proposal that was made by the Justice 
Department in a letter to members of this committee. To facilitate 
commentary on this bill, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the 
bill and a letter from the Justice Department be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                S. 1654

       Section 1040 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
       (1) by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
       ``(a) Offense.--Whoever, using any means or facility of 
     interstate or foreign commerce--
       (1) knowingly generates, transmits, or causes to be 
     generated or transmitted--
       (i) false caller ID information with intent wrongfully to 
     obtain anything of value; or
       (ii) caller ID information pertaining to an actual person 
     or other entity without that person's or entity's consent and 
     with intent to deceive any person or other entity about the 
     identity of the caller; or
       (2) knowingly offers, sells, or makes available a service 
     that enables users to modify, generate, or transmit false or 
     misleading caller ID information; or

     attempts or conspires to do so, shall be punished as provided 
     in subsection (b).''; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(f) Exceptions.--Paragraph (a)(2) does not prohibit 
     offering, selling, or making available any such service that 
     transmits, in the signaling data with each call, (1) 
     information sufficient to indicate to the recipient's 
     telephone carrier that the caller ID information is not 
     accurate, (2) if available, the originating telephone number 
     or other information identifying the origin of the call, and 
     (3) the identity of the provider of the service that enabled 
     the user to modify, generate, or transmit the chosen caller 
     ID information.''
                                  ____

                                       U.S. Department of Justice,


                                Office of Legislative Affairs,

                                   Washington, DC, April 25, 2007.
     Hon. Patrick J. Leahy,
     Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary,
     U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Chairman: The Department of Justice appreciates 
     the opportunity to provide further comment on H.R. 740, the 
     ``Preventing Harassment Through Outbound Number Enforcement 
     Act'' (``PHONE Act of 2007''). The PHONE Act of 2007 was 
     passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on March 21, 2007 
     and referred to the Senate, where consideration of the bill 
     is currently pending before the Judiciary Committee. It is 
     the Department's understanding that a substitute amendment 
     will be offered during the Senate Judiciary Committee's 
     consideration of this legislation. This letter reflects DOJ's 
     views toward the amended version of this bill.
       As the Department noted in its original comments on the 
     PHONE Act submitted to Chairman Conyers on February 5, 2007, 
     we support Congressional action to give law enforcement 
     better tools to protect our citizens and our country from 
     identity thieves, stalkers, and other criminals. In the 
     February 5th letter, the Department of Justice made a number 
     of recommendations to strengthen the bill, many of which were 
     adopted. Those changes have made the PHONE Act a more 
     effective tool for combating threats such as identity theft, 
     preying on the elderly, and the thwarting of important, time-
     sensitive investigations.

[[Page S7896]]

       Although the PHONE Act is an important step toward 
     addressing caller ID spoofing, the problem needs a solution 
     that addresses not only users of caller ID spoofing, but also 
     the services that make this capability to deceive widely 
     available to the public. Several services today offer users 
     the ability to manipulate information transmitted with a 
     telephone call in order to cause a number of the caller's 
     choosing to appear on the call recipient's caller ID display. 
     Using such a service can be as easy as calling a toll-free 
     number and entering calling card information.
       As the Department has described in its testimony before the 
     House of Representatives Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, 
     and Homeland Security on the PHONE Act, the widespread 
     availability of caller ID spoofing services poses several 
     problems. First, the recipient of a spoofed call is led to 
     believe that he or she has received the call from someone who 
     did not actually place the call. Numerous such incidents have 
     been reported, including examples of SWAT teams being misled 
     into raiding innocent persons' houses based on 911 calls that 
     incorrectly appeared to have come from the innocent person's 
     home (a practice known as ``SWATting''), businesses being 
     tricked into revealing personal data about the person whose 
     number is spoofed (i.e., enabling ``pretexting''), and 
     harassing calls being placed using the phone number of a 
     political candidate in order to anger voters against that 
     candidate.
       The PHONE Act does not currently address these caller ID 
     spoofing services that make it easy for anyone with a 
     telephone to spoof caller ID. Simply criminalizing the use of 
     spoofing capabilities for criminal or fraudulent purposes 
     would not sufficiently diminish the availability of spoofing 
     services. Because the use of caller ID spoofing is 
     particularly hard to investigate and to prosecute, to address 
     this problem effectively, Congress should also address the 
     providers who make this capability widely available.
       We have included recommended edits to section 2 of the bill 
     in order to address caller ID spoofing services that do not 
     at least notify call recipients that the caller ID 
     information has been modified (attached hereto as Appendix 
     A). We also suggest that Congress consider whether this 
     legislation should contain an explicit exemption for entities 
     complying with existing Federal regulations such as the 
     Telemarketing Sales Rule that allow the substitution of 
     caller ID information for limited purposes.
       The Department appreciates the Committee's leadership in 
     ensuring that our country's laws meet this new challenge. 
     Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the bill and for 
     your continuing support.
       The Office of Management and Budget has advised that there 
     is no objection to the presentation of these views from the 
     standpoint of the Administration's program. If we may be of 
     additional assistance, please do not hesitate to contact this 
     office.
           Sincerely,
                                              Richard A. Hertling,
                                Acting Assistant Attorney General.
                                 ______