H.R. 1258 (111th): Truth in Caller ID Act of 2010

Introduced:
Mar 03, 2009 (111th Congress, 2009–2010)
Sponsor:
Rep. Eliot Engel [D-NY17]
Status:
Died (Passed House)

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.

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Status

This bill was introduced in a previous session of Congress and was passed by the House on April 14, 2010 but was never passed by the Senate.

Progress
Introduced Mar 03, 2009
Reported by Committee Mar 10, 2010
Passed House Apr 14, 2010
Cosponsors
5 cosponsors (3D, 2R) (show)
Committees

House Energy and Commerce

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit manipulation ofcaller ID information, and for other purposes.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

Read Bill Text »

Last updated Apr 15, 2010.
6 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

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Citation

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GovTrack’s Bill Summary

We don’t have a summary available yet.

Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

4/14/2010. Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to make it unlawful for any person in the United States, in connection with any real time voice communications, regardless of the technology or network used, to cause any caller identification service to transmit misleading or inaccurate caller identification information ("spoofing") with the intent to defraud or deceive. Prohibits construing this Act to prevent blocking caller identification. Declares that this Act does not prohibit lawfully authorized investigative, protective, or intelligence activity of a law enforcement agency of the United States, a state, or a political subdivision of a state, or of a U.S. intelligence agency.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/111/2/hr1258.

Background

Caller ID allows consumers to see the names and telephone numbers of incoming calls. Recently, criminals have been calling victims and changing ("spoofing") their phone number on Caller ID, leading the victim to believe that somebody else is calling. Under current law, "spoofing" is both legal and easy to carry out.

Summary

H.R. 1258 would make it illegal to cause any Caller ID service to transmit misleading or inaccurate Caller ID information with the intent to defraud or deceive. Prohibitions under the bill would apply to both traditional telephone and voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) services.

The bill would clarify that it would not prohibit the use of false phone numbers in lawful law enforcement investigations and intelligence activities. The measure also clarifies that it would not be illegal to have a blocked number that does not appear on Caller ID.

The Federal Communications Commission would be required, within six months of the enactment, to determine whether the regulations should be revised to restrict non-commercial calls to residential telephone lines using an artificial or pre-recorded voice.

 

Cost

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) expects that developing and enforcing regulations required by H.R. 1258 would cost about $1 million annually, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts. However, under current law, the FCC is authorized to collect fees from the telecommunications industry sufficient to offset the cost of its regulatory program. Therefore, CBO estimates the net budgetary impact of H.R. 1258 would be negligible.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.

So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.

We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.

The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

Slip Laws

Slip laws refer to enacted bills and joint resolutions in their original form as enacted by Congress, that is, before other laws amend them. Slip laws are cited as “Public Law XXX-YYY”, where XXX is the number of the Congress in which the bill or resolution was introduced.

United States Code

The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)

Other Citations

  • 18 U.S.C. Chapter 224