[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 143 (Thursday, November 20, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6207-S6209]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
By Mr. NELSON (for himself, Mr. Donnelly, Ms. Collins, and Mr.
Booker):
[[Page S6208]]
S. 2956. A bill to prevent caller ID spoofing, and for other
purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, in 2010 Congress passed, and the President
signed into law, the Truth in Caller ID Act, which prohibits caller ID
spoofing when it is used to defraud or harm Americans.
What is caller ID spoofing? It is a technique that allows a telephone
caller to alter the phone number that appears on the recipient's Caller
ID screen. In other words, spoofing allows someone to hide behind a
misleading telephone number to try to scam consumers or trick law
enforcement officers.
The Truth in Caller ID Act put in place tough new sanctions to crack
down on phone scams, empowering States to help the Federal Government
track down and punish these fraudsters.
Since then spoofing technology has evolved to give fraudsters new
tools to pull the wool over our eyes. They take advantage of innovative
text messaging services to trick unsuspecting Americans into sending
money or providing sensitive personal information.
I believe our laws must evolve and adapt to the new tactics and
technologies used by these criminals. That is why I am introducing the
Phone Scam Prevention Act of 2014, to update the protections we put in
place in 2010 and give consumers the tools they need to help them
protect themselves.
The bill does 3 simple things.
First, it extends the current prohibition on Caller ID spoofing to
calls coming from outside the United States and stops crooks from using
text messaging services to scam consumers.
Second, it ensures consumers have access to what are known as
``whitelist services,'' where the technology exists. Whitelist services
allow consumers to pick a list of approved phone numbers to ring
through to their phone. All other numbers are automatically forwarded
to voicemail or rerouted to a different number.
Calls from first responders, government agencies, and other important
entities would still ring through to the consumer's phone.
Several phone companies currently offer whitelist services to their
customers. It only makes sense to allow more Americans to have access
to these valuable services so that they can help protect themselves
from abusive phone calls.
Third, the bill directs the Federal Communications Commission, FCC,
to develop Caller ID authentication standards within 5 years from the
date of enactment to ensure Caller ID information is accurate, or at
the very least warn consumers when such information cannot be verified.
An international group of telecom engineers, including specialists at
the FCC, are currently working to develop such standards. The bill
would merely accelerate the timeline for the standards to be finalized
and move us to a more secure telephone system sooner.
When in place, Caller ID authentication will give consumers the
information they need to judge the legitimacy of the call. Scammers
will no longer be able to use spoofing technology to claim to be from
the IRS, your bank, your utility company, or law enforcement and bilk
you out of all your savings.
I invite my colleagues to join Senators Collins, Donnelly, Booker,
and me in support of the Phone Scam Prevention Act of 2014. Working
together, I am hopeful that we can finally stop many of the fraudsters
behinds these phone scams.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 2956
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 ``Phone Scam Prevention Act of
2014''.
SEC. 2. AVAILABILITY OF WHITELIST SERVICES.
(a) In General.--Part I of title II of the Communications
Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is amended by adding at
the end the following:
``SEC. 232. AVAILABILITY OF WHITELIST SERVICES.
``(a) Definitions.--In this section--
``(1) the term `voice service' means any service that
furnishes voice communications to an end user using resources
from the North American Numbering Plan or any successor plan
adopted by the Commission under section 251(e)(1);
``(2) the term `exempt entity' means--
``(A) the Federal Government, a State, a political
subdivision of a State, or an agency thereof; and
``(B) any entity with respect to which the Commission
determines that allowing calls that originate from that
entity to connect directly with the voice service customer
premises equipment (commonly referred to as `CPE') of a
subscriber would serve the public interest; and
``(3) the term `whitelist' means a list of telephone
numbers, designated by a subscriber, for which calls
originating from those numbers to the subscriber are
permitted to connect directly with the voice service CPE of
the subscriber.
``(b) Requirement to Offer Whitelist Service.--A provider
of a voice service shall offer each subscriber the option to
designate a whitelist, if technically feasible (as determined
by the Commission on a periodic basis).
``(c) Treatment of Nonapproved Telephone Numbers.--
``(1) In general.--If a subscriber elects to designate a
whitelist under subsection (b), the provider of the voice
service of the subscriber shall ensure that any call the
provider receives for termination that is not associated with
a telephone number on the whitelist of the subscriber or the
telephone number of an exempt entity is processed according
to preferences set by the subscriber with respect to the
whitelist, including by limiting or disabling the ability of
an incoming call to connect with the CPE of the subscriber.
``(2) Safe harbor.--Whitelist processing that, in
accordance with the preferences of a subscriber, limits or
disables connection with the CPE of a subscriber shall not be
considered to be--
``(A) blocking traffic; or
``(B) an unjust or unreasonable practice under section 201
of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201).
``(d) Number of Telephone Numbers on Whitelist Free of
Charge.--
``(1) In general.--A provider of a voice service shall
allow a subscriber (or a designated representative thereof)
to designate not less than 10 telephone numbers to be on the
whitelist under subsection (b), free of charge.
``(2) Telephone numbers of exempt entities.--The telephone
number of an exempt entity shall not be considered to be on
the whitelist of a subscriber for purposes of calculating the
10 telephone numbers that may be designated under paragraph
(1).''.
(b) Effective Date.--Section 232 of the Communications Act
of 1934, as added by subsection (a), shall take effect on the
date that is 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act.
SEC. 3. AUTHENTICATION OF CALL ORIGINATION.
Part I of title II of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
U.S.C. 201 et seq.), as amended by section 2, is amended by
adding at the end the following:
``SEC. 233. AUTHENTICATION OF CALL ORIGINATION.
``(a) Definition.--In this section, the term `voice
service' means any service that furnishes voice
communications to an end user using resources from the North
American Numbering Plan or any successor plan adopted by the
Commission under section 251(e)(1).
``(b) Development of Authentication Standards by
Commission.--Not later than 5 years after the date of
enactment of the Phone Scam Prevention Act of 2014, the
Commission shall develop authentication standards for
providers of a voice service to validate the calling party
number and caller identification information of a call
originated through a voice service so that the subscriber
receiving the call may obtain--
``(1) a secure assurance of the origin of the call,
including--
``(A) the calling party number; and
``(B) caller identification information for the call; or
``(2) notice that an assurance described in paragraph (1)
is unavailable.
``(c) Adoption of Authentication Standards by Entities.--
Each provider of a voice service that is allocated telephone
numbers from the portion of the North American Numbering Plan
that pertains to the United States shall adopt the
authentication standards developed under subsection (b).''.
SEC. 4. EXPANDING AND CLARIFYING PROHIBITION ON INACCURATE
CALLER ID INFORMATION.
(a) Communications From Outside United States.--Section
227(e)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.
227(e)(1)) is amended by striking ``in connection with any
telecommunications service or IP-enabled voice service'' and
inserting ``or any person outside the United States if the
recipient of the call is within the United States, in
connection with any voice service''.
(b) Coverage of Text Messages and Other Voice Services.--
Section 227(e)(8) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
U.S.C. 227(e)(8)) is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``telecommunications
service or IP-enabled voice service'' and inserting ``voice
service (including a text message sent using a text messaging
service)'';
[[Page S6209]]
(2) in the first sentence of subparagraph (B), by striking
``telecommunications service or IP-enabled voice service''
and inserting ``voice service (including a text message sent
using a text messaging service)'';
(3) by striking subparagraph (C) and inserting the
following:
``(C) Text message.--The term `text message'--
``(i) means a real-time or near real-time message
consisting of text, images, sounds, or other information that
is transmitted from or received by a device that is
identified as the transmitting or receiving device by means
of a telephone number;
``(ii) includes a short message service (commonly referred
to as `SMS') message, an enhanced message service (commonly
referred to as `EMS') message, and a multimedia message
service (commonly referred to as `MMS') message; and
``(iii) does not include a real-time, 2-way voice or video
communication.
``(D) Text messaging service.--The term `text messaging
service' means a service that permits the transmission or
receipt of a text message, including a service provided as
part of or in connection with a voice service.
``(E) Voice service.--The term `voice service' means any
service that furnishes voice communications to an end user
using resources from the North American Numbering Plan or any
successor plan adopted by the Commission under section
251(e)(1).''.
(c) Rules of Construction.--Nothing in this Act shall be
construed to modify, limit, or otherwise affect--
(1) the authority, as of the day before the date of
enactment of this Act, of the Federal Communications
Commission to interpret the term ``call'' to include a text
message (as defined under section 227(e)(8)) of the
Communications Act of 1934, as added by subsection (b)); or
(2) any rule or order adopted by the Federal Communications
Commission in connection with--
(A) the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (Public
Law 102-243; 105 Stat. 2394) or the amendments made by that
Act; or
(B) the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (15 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.).
(d) Regulations.--Not later than 18 months after the date
of enactment of this Act, the Federal Communications
Commission shall prescribe regulations to implement the
amendments made by this section.
(e) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section
shall take effect on the date that is 6 months after the date
on which the Federal Communications Commission prescribes
regulations under subsection (d).
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