Mr. BOUCHER. Madam Speaker, today we consider S. 30, the Truth in
Caller ID Act. It is the Senate companion to House legislation that was
introduced on a bipartisan basis by our colleagues, the gentleman from
New York (Mr. Engel) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton), ranking
Republican member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

The bill directs the FCC to adopt the regulations prohibiting caller
ID spoofing in which a caller falsifies the original caller ID
information during the transmission of a call with the intent to
defraud, to cause harm, or wrongfully to obtain anything of value. The
bill makes anyone who knowingly and willingly engages in caller ID
spoofing eligible for criminal fines.

Spoofing has been possible for many years, but generally required
expensive [Page: H8378]
equipment in order to change the outgoing call information. But with the
growth of voice over Internet protocol usage, spoofing has become
easier and considerably less expensive, and a number of Web sites are
now offering spoofing services. Consequently, those who want to deceive
others by manipulating caller ID can now do so with relative ease.

Spoofing threatens a number of business applications, including
credit card verifications and automatic call routing, because these
systems rely on the telephone number as identified by the caller ID
system as one piece of their verification and authentication process. It
is also commonly used in the commission of frauds of various kinds.

At other times, spoofing may be used to protect individuals. For
example, domestic violence shelters sometimes use spoofing to mask the
identity of the caller for protective purposes.

By prohibiting the use of caller ID spoofing only where the intent is
to defraud, to cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value, this
measure addresses the nefarious uses of the technology while continuing
to allow legitimate uses such as use in shelters for the victims of
domestic violence.

In the rulemaking that the FCC will conduct pursuant to new
subsection 227(e)(3) of the Communications Act, the committee
anticipates that the commission will consider imposing obligations on
entities that provide caller ID spoofing services to the public. The
widespread availability of caller ID spoofing services presents a
significant potential for abuse and hinders law enforcement’s ability to
investigate crime.

The prohibition in this bill on the use of those services with the
intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value
could be of limited value if entities continue to provide those services
without making any effort to verify their users’ ownership of the phone
number that is being substituted.

With our action today, this measure will be forwarded to the
President for his signature. I want to thank and commend our colleagues,
Mr. Engel and also Mr. Barton, for their commitment to the matter. And I
want to commend Senator Nelson of Florida and all Members who, on a
bipartisan basis, have contributed to and supported the legislation now
before the House.

I reserve the balance of my time.

[Time: 12:20]