[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 27 (Monday, February 22, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S912-S913]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. NELSON (for himself and Mrs. Fischer):
  S. 2558. A bill to expand the prohibition on misleading or inaccurate 
caller identification information, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, we all know how our senior citizens have 
been the victims of spoofing. Well, that is happening to a lot of our 
fellow citizens, no matter what the age is, because fraudulent and 
abusive phoning scams are plaguing thousands of Americans each year. 
These deceitful practices are causing very serious harm to victims by 
fake messages coming across often that cause the receiver to respond 
with some kind of financial transaction or the giving up of a credit 
card number.
  The Commerce Committee and the Aging Committee have explored the 
impact of these scams, and by one account consumers continue to lose 
millions of dollars each year to fraudulent phone scams, many of which 
originate in other countries. The impact of these scams are very real 
to the consumers who suffer.
  For example, one old poor soul took his life last year after spending 
thousands in a vain attempt to collect on his winnings in what he 
thought was a Jamaican lottery--winnings that were nonexistent because 
it was all a scam. A lot of us think we have trained ourselves to 
ignore phone calls and text messages from numbers that pop up that we 
don't recognize, but this is also where the sophisticated scammer 
enters because now scammers can impersonate government institutions' 
numbers. They promote fraudulent lottery schemes and they tailor their 
calls to individuals in order to coerce victims into paying large sums 
of money, just like the victim I mentioned earlier.
  Spoofing technology is used to manipulate the caller ID information 
and trick consumers into believing that the calls are local or are 
coming from trusted institutions. A few years ago, this Senator 
introduced the Truth in Caller ID Act to prohibit ID spoofing when it 
is used to defraud or harm consumers, and this law provided important 
tools for law enforcement to go after these criminals and crack down on 
the phone scams. That legislation was passed. It was signed into law. 
It was a huge win for consumers and the first step toward ending these 
abusive practices, but technology is passing us by.
  As the technologies evolve, the law directed the Federal 
Communications Commission to prepare a report to Congress outlining 
additional tools that are going to be needed for different kinds of 
spoofing practices because of new technologies. The FCC a few years ago 
provided its recommendations to Congress on how to update the law to 
keep pace with technology and the use of it by criminals.
  Senator Fischer and I have introduced a bill today that responds to 
the FCC's report, recommendations, and their requests, and it builds on 
the 2010 act on phone scams to keep up with the new kind of spoofing 
because they are now much more sophisticated. We need to make sure 
there are consumer protections and tools for law enforcement to keep 
up. That is why this legislation we introduced today is important. It 
is called the Spoofing Prevention Act of 2016. It would extend the 
current prohibition in law on caller ID spoofing to text messages and 
to calls coming from outside the United States, as well as from all 
forms of voice over Internet protocol services. For the first time, 
this bill would have access to information to go after these criminals 
in a centralized location on current technologies available to protect 
them against this sophisticated type of criminal. It does so by 
directing the FCC to publish and regularly update a report on existing 
tools.
  The act also directs the Government Accountability Office to conduct 
a report to assess government and private sector work being done to 
curb this spoofing, as well as what new measures, including 
technological solutions, can be taken to prevent this.
  I urge our colleagues to join Senator Fischer and me in supporting 
this act to try to give some protection in this age of digital 
technology, of rapidly advancing technology, to help protect those poor 
consumers who are getting fooled and in other words getting spoofed.
  I also thank Senator Klobuchar and Senator Donnelly for their work in 
combatting spoofing. We are going to continue to work on this, and this 
Senator is going to press the Federal Communications Commission to 
continue to use its full authority under the Truth in Caller ID Act to 
stop these scams, including a consideration of technical solutions like 
call authentication to protect consumers.
  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. 2558

       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 ``Spoofing Prevention Act of 
     2016''.

     SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

       In this Act:
       (1) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal 
     Communications Commission.
       (2) 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 to the North American Numbering Plan adopted by the 
     Commission under section 251(e)(1) of the Communications Act 
     of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 251(e)(1)).

     SEC. 3. EXPANDING AND CLARIFYING PROHIBITION ON MISLEADING OR 
                   INACCURATE CALLER IDENTIFICATION 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 or text messaging 
     service''.
       (b) Coverage of Text Messages and 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 or a text message sent using a text messaging 
     service'';
       (2) in the first sentence of subparagraph (B), by striking 
     ``telecommunications service or IP-enabled voice service'' 
     and inserting ``voice service or a text message sent using a 
     text messaging service''; and
       (3) by striking subparagraph (C) and inserting the 
     following:
       ``(C) Text message.--The term `text message'--
       ``(i) means a 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 10-digit telephone number;
       ``(ii) includes a short message service (commonly referred 
     to as `SMS') message, an

[[Page S913]]

     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 to the North American Numbering Plan adopted by the 
     Commission under section 251(e)(1).''.
       (c) Technical Amendment.--Section 227(e) of the 
     Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(e)) is amended in 
     the heading by inserting ``Misleading or '' before 
     ``inaccurate''.
       (d) Regulations.--
       (1) In general.--Section 227(e)(3)(A) of the Communications 
     Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(e)(3)(A)) is amended by striking 
     ``Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of the 
     Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009, the Commission'' and 
     inserting ``The Commission''.
       (2) Deadline.--The Federal Communications Commission shall 
     prescribe regulations to implement the amendments made by 
     this section not later than 18 months after the date of 
     enactment of this Act.
       (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 Commission prescribes regulations under 
     subsection (d).

     SEC. 4. REPORT ON EXISTING TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS TO COMBAT 
                   MISLEADING OR INACCURATE CALLER IDENTIFICATION 
                   INFORMATION.

       (a) Publication of Report.--Not later than 1 year after the 
     date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the 
     Commission shall publish on the website of the Commission a 
     report that identifies existing technology solutions that a 
     consumer can use to protect the consumer against misleading 
     or inaccurate caller identification information.
       (b) Contents of Report.--In preparing the report under 
     subsection (a), the Commission shall--
       (1) analyze existing technologies that can enable consumers 
     to guard against misleading or inaccurate caller 
     identification information;
       (2) describe how the technologies described in paragraph 
     (1) protect consumers; and
       (3) detail how voice service subscribers can obtain access 
     to the technologies described in paragraph (1).

     SEC. 5. GAO REPORT ON COMBATING THE FRAUDULENT PROVISION OF 
                   MISLEADING OR INACCURATE CALLER IDENTIFICATION 
                   INFORMATION.

       (a) In General.--The Comptroller General of the United 
     States shall conduct a study of the actions the Commission 
     and the Federal Trade Commission have taken to combat the 
     fraudulent provision of misleading or inaccurate caller 
     identification information, and the additional measures that 
     could be taken to combat such activity.
       (b) Required Considerations.--In conducting the study under 
     subsection (a), the Comptroller General shall examine--
       (1) trends in the types of scams that rely on misleading or 
     inaccurate caller identification information;
       (2) previous and current enforcement actions by the 
     Commission and the Federal Trade Commission to combat the 
     practices prohibited by section 227(e)(1) of the 
     Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(e)(1));
       (3) current efforts by industry groups and other entities 
     to develop technical standards to deter or prevent the 
     fraudulent provision of misleading or inaccurate caller 
     identification information, and how such standards may help 
     combat the current and future provision of misleading or 
     inaccurate caller identification information; and
       (4) whether there are additional actions the Commission, 
     the Federal Trade Commission, and Congress should take to 
     combat the fraudulent provision of misleading or inaccurate 
     caller identification information.
       (c) Report.--Not later than 18 months after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit 
     to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 
     the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 
     House of Representatives a report on the findings of the 
     study under subsection (a), including any recommendations 
     regarding combating the fraudulent provision of misleading or 
     inaccurate caller identification information.

     SEC. 6. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.

       (a) In General.--Nothing in this Act, or the amendments 
     made by this Act, shall be construed to modify, limit, or 
     otherwise affect any rule or order adopted by the Commission 
     in connection with--
       (1) the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (Public 
     Law 102-243; 105 Stat. 2394) or the amendments made by that 
     Act; or
       (2) the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (15 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.).
       (b) Additional.--Nothing in this Act, or the amendments 
     made by this Act, shall be construed--
       (1) to mean that a text messaging service (as defined in 
     section 227(e)(8) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
     U.S.C. 227(e)(8)) is a telecommunications service under title 
     II of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201 et seq.), 
     or require or direct the Commission to classify a text 
     messaging service as a telecommunications service;
       (2) to mean that an interconnected VoIP service (as defined 
     in section 9.3 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or 
     any successor regulation) or a non-interconnected VoIP 
     service (as defined in section 64.601(a)(23) of title 47, 
     Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation) is 
     a telecommunications service under title II of the 
     Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201 et seq.), or 
     require or direct the Commission to classify an 
     interconnected VoIP service or a non-interconnected VoIP 
     service as a telecommunications service; or
       (3) to modify, limit, or otherwise affect the authority of 
     the Commission to determine the scope of any other provision 
     of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) and 
     its applicability to any voice service, including an 
     interconnected VoIP service or a non-interconnected VoIP 
     service, or text messaging service.

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