[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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