Implementation of the Truth in Caller ID Act, 43196-43206 [2011-18165]
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Chief executive officer of community
Effective date of
modification
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(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance No.
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[FR Doc. 2011–18303 Filed 7–19–11; 8:45 am]
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BILLING CODE 9110–12–P
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS
COMMISSION
47 CFR Parts 1 and 64
[WC Docket No. 11–39; FCC 11–100]
Implementation of the Truth in Caller
ID Act
Federal Communications
Commission.
ACTION: Final rule.
AGENCY:
In this Report and Order
(Order), the Commission adopts rules to
implement the Truth in Caller ID Act of
2009 (Truth in Caller ID Act, or Act).
The Truth in Caller ID Act, and the
Commission’s implementing rules,
SUMMARY:
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Community
No.
prohibit any person or entity from
knowingly altering or manipulating
caller identification information with
the intent to defraud, cause harm, or
wrongfully obtain anything of value.
DATES: Effective August 19, 2011.
ADDRESSES: Federal Communications
Commission, 445 12th Street, SW.,
Washington, DC 20554.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lisa
Hone, Wireline Competition Bureau,
(202) 418–1580.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a
summary of the Commission’s Report
and Order (Order) in WC Docket No.
11–39, FCC 11–100, adopted June 20,
2011, and released June 22, 2011. In this
Order, the Commission adopts rules to
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implement the Truth in Caller ID Act of
2009. Caller ID services typically
identify the telephone numbers and
sometimes the names associated with
incoming calls, thus allowing
consumers to decide whether or how to
answer a phone call based on who
appears to be calling. However, caller ID
information can be altered or
manipulated (‘‘spoofed’’). Increasingly,
bad actors are spoofing caller ID
information in order to facilitate a wide
variety of malicious schemes. In
response to the increasing use of caller
ID spoofing to facilitate schemes that
defraud consumers and threaten public
safety, Congress passed the Truth in
Caller ID Act. The Truth in Caller ID
Act, and the Commission’s
implementing rules, prohibit any person
or entity from knowingly spoofing caller
identification information with the
intent to defraud, cause harm, or
wrongfully obtain anything of value.
Synopsis of Report and Order
I. Implementation of the Truth in Caller
ID Act
1. Having considered the record in
this proceeding, we adopt rules that
prohibit any person or entity in the
United States, acting with the intent to
defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully
obtain anything of value, from
knowingly causing, directly or
indirectly, any caller identification
service to transmit or display
misleading or inaccurate caller
identification information. The
revisions to the Commission’s Calling
Party Number (CPN) rules are modeled
on the Act’s prohibition against
knowingly engaging in caller ID
spoofing with fraudulent or harmful
intent. The rules include exemptions
based on conduct the Act identifies as
exempt from its prohibitions. The
revised rules also include new
definitions, including several modeled
after definitions in the Act. As proposed
in the Caller ID Act NPRM, 76 FR 16367,
the revised rules also specify that
blocking or attempting to block one’s
own caller ID is not a violation of the
new rules, while clarifying that
telemarketers are not relieved of their
obligation to transmit caller
identification information.
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A. Prohibited Practice
2. The principal implementing rule
we adopt provides that ‘‘no person or
entity in the United States shall, with
intent to defraud, cause harm, or
wrongfully obtain anything of value,
knowingly cause, directly or indirectly,
any caller identification service to
transmit or display misleading or
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inaccurate caller identification
information.’’ The wording of the
prohibition in our rules generally tracks
the wording of the prohibition in the
Act, and is unchanged from the rule the
Commission proposed in the Caller ID
Act NPRM.
3. The Act specifies that the
prohibited conduct is ‘‘in connection
with any telecommunications or IPenabled voice service.’’ Because we
define the terms ‘‘caller identification
service’’ and ‘‘caller identification
information’’ to encompass the use of
telecommunications services and
‘‘interconnected VoIP services,’’ we do
not need to specify in the rule that the
prohibition encompasses calls made
using telecommunications services and
IP-enabled voice services, as specified
in the Act.
4. We also note that the Act is
directed at ‘‘any person,’’ but does not
define the term ‘‘person.’’ In order to
make clear that the rules are not limited
to natural persons and to be consistent
with the Commission’s current rules
concerning the delivery of CPN, our
amendments to the CPN rules use the
phrase any ‘‘person or entity.’’ By
contrast, the amendments to the
Commission’s forfeiture rules use the
term ‘‘person’’ in order to be consistent
with use of the term ‘‘person’’ in the
forfeiture rules. In both cases, we intend
for the entities covered to be those
within the scope of the definition of
‘‘person’’ in the Communications Act.
The only commenter that addressed the
use of the phrase ‘‘person or entity’’ in
the proposed rules supported the
Commission’s clarification that the rule
applies to both natural persons and
other entities.
5. In the Caller ID Act NPRM, the
Commission asked about the placement
of the term ‘‘knowingly’’ in the
proposed rules. As with the proposed
rules, the rules we adopt today provide
that in order to violate the rules, the
person or entity ‘‘knowingly’’ causing
transmission or display of inaccurate or
misleading caller identification must be
the same person or entity that is acting
with intent to defraud, cause harm, or
wrongfully obtain anything of value.
The Truth in Caller ID Act is aimed at
prohibiting the use of caller ID spoofing
for ill intent. Therefore, we believe that
an entity subject to liability for violating
the Act must knowingly spoof caller
identification information and do so
with intent to defraud, cause harm, or
wrongfully obtain something of value.
6. Most commenters agreed with the
Commission’s proposal to clarify that
the word ‘‘knowingly’’ modifies the
action of the person or entity engaged in
malicious caller ID spoofing because
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this is the most logical reading of
placement of the word in the Truth in
Caller ID Act. However, in its reply
comments, the Privacy Rights
Clearinghouse (PRC) recommends that
the Commission change the placement
of the word ‘‘knowingly’’ so that it
modifies the actions of the caller
identification service or modify the rule
so that spoofing services are prohibited
from knowingly transmitting misleading
or inaccurate caller identification
information for a party violating the Act.
PRC argues that requiring that the same
person or entity knowingly cause the
transmission or display of misleading or
inaccurate caller identification
information and have the requisite
intent to ‘‘defraud, cause harm, or
wrongfully obtain anything of value’’
imposes an unnecessary hurdle to
enforcement efforts.
7. We disagree with PRC’s arguments.
Based on our reading of the statute, it is
not enough that a person or entity
intend to defraud, cause harm, or
wrongfully obtain anything of value to
violate the Truth in Caller ID Act.
Rather, the person or entity intending to
defraud, cause harm or wrongfully
obtain anything of value must facilitate
the scheme through the manipulation or
alteration of caller identification
information. Moreover, adopting a rule
in which ‘‘knowingly’’ modifies the
action of the caller identification service
would not impose liability on caller ID
spoofing services for knowingly
manipulating caller identification
information absent intent to defraud,
cause harm, or wrongfully obtain
anything of value. Nor would it ease the
burden on law enforcement of proving
a violation of the Act. Instead, it would
require law enforcers to show that the
provider of the caller ID service—
usually a terminating carrier or VoIP
provider—knew that the incoming caller
identification information was
manipulated or altered. As the
Commission noted in the Caller ID Act
NPRM, ‘‘in many instances the caller
identification service has no way of
knowing whether or not the caller
identification information it receives
has been manipulated.’’ We do not
believe Congress intended to impose
liability on caller ID spoofers acting
with malicious intent only upon proof
that the provider of the call recipient’s
caller ID service knew that the caller
identification information was
manipulated or altered. That would be
a perverse result, wholly inconsistent
with the intent of the Act and its
legislative history.
8. As for PRC’s suggestion that we
modify the rule to hold spoofing
providers liable for transmitting
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inaccurate or misleading caller
identification information on behalf of
someone violating the Act, as discussed
below, we choose to follow Congress’
lead in not imposing additional
obligations on spoofing providers. We
find that the proposed rules and the
rules we adopt today are consistent with
Congressional intent to focus on
whether a person or entity has
knowingly manipulated the caller
identification information in order to
defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully
obtain anything of value, and therefore
we adopt the prohibition on caller ID
spoofing as proposed in the Caller ID
Act NPRM. The person or entity that
knowingly causes caller ID services to
transmit or display misleading or
inaccurate information may, in some
cases, be a carrier, spoofing provider or
other service provider, and we do not
exempt such conduct from the purview
of our rules. Indeed, we believe that
caller ID spoofing done to wrongfully
avoid payment of intercarrier
compensation charges—whether by the
originating provider, an intermediate
carrier, or other intermediate entity—
would be a violation of our rules.
9. Like the proposed rules, the rules
we adopt today address both
transmission and display of misleading
or inaccurate caller identification
information to make clear that, even if
a carrier or interconnected VoIP
provider transmits accurate caller
identification information, it would be a
violation for a person or entity to
knowingly cause, directly or indirectly,
a device that displays caller
identification information to display
inaccurate or misleading information
with the intent to defraud, cause harm,
or wrongfully obtain anything of value.
We also note that the rules we adopt
today cover situations in which a person
or entity is ‘‘directly or indirectly’’
causing a caller identification service to
transmit or display misleading or
inaccurate caller ID. We include the
concept of ‘‘indirect’’ action in our rules
to foreclose those acting with the
requisite harmful intent from arguing
that they are not liable merely because
they have engaged a third party to cause
the transmission or display of
inaccurate or misleading caller
identification information.
10. In the Caller ID Act NPRM, the
Commission sought comment on
whether the proposed prohibition on
causing any caller identification service
to transmit or display ‘‘misleading or
inaccurate’’ caller identification
information with the ‘‘intent to defraud,
cause harm, or wrongfully obtain
anything of value’’ provides clear
guidance about what actions are
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prohibited. Commenters generally
agreed that the terms in the proposed
rule were sufficiently clear. We agree.
Although we do not believe it is
necessary to offer additional definitions
to clarify the meaning of the prohibited
actions, we do agree with the National
Network to End Domestic Violence
(NNEDV) that the term ‘‘harm’’ is a
broad concept that encompasses
financial, physical, and emotional harm,
include stalking, harassment, and the
violation of protection and restraining
orders. Moreover, NNEDV offers
substantial evidence that abusive
spouses use third-party caller ID
services to harass and stalk their
victims. We consider knowing
manipulation or alteration of caller
identification information for the
purpose of harassing or stalking
someone to be an egregious violation of
the Act and of our rules implementing
the Act. We intend to enforce our rules
vigorously, including against those who
engage in such malicious practices, and
we encourage spoofing providers to
notify their customers in no uncertain
terms that such actions are illegal.
B. Exemptions
11. The Act directs the Commission to
exempt from its regulations (i) any
authorized activity of a law enforcement
agency; and (ii) court orders that
specifically authorize the use of caller
identification manipulation. Separately,
the Act also makes clear that it ‘‘does
not prohibit any 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 an
intelligence agency of the United
States.’’ DOJ requested that the
Commission explicitly incorporate
lawfully authorized investigative,
protective, or intelligence activities into
the exemptions to the Commission’s
implementing rule. In light of the
statutory language specifying that such
activities are not prohibited by the Act
and DOJ’s request that such activities be
included in the exemptions to the
Commission’s implementing rule, the
proposed rule incorporated the two
exemptions specified in the Act, and
expanded the exemption for law
enforcement activities to cover
protective and intelligence activities. No
commenters objected to the proposed
rule, and AT&T, the only commenter
other than DOJ that addressed the
exemptions in the proposed rule,
supported their adoption. Thus, the
record supports our decision to include
those exemptions in the rule we adopt
today.
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12. We decline to adopt any other
exemptions from the Act. Commenters
have proposed a number of additional
exemptions, all of which cover practices
that, as described by the commenters
themselves, would not violate the plain
language of the Act. Some commenters
assert that absent additional
exemptions, the rules might be
misinterpreted to prohibit normal and
helpful business practices, such as those
designed to facilitate communications
with customers. As a result some
commenters ask for broad exemptions to
the Act. AT&T, for example, asks the
Commission to make clear that caller ID
manipulation ‘‘for legitimate business
reasons’’ is exempt; inContact asks the
Commission to ‘‘exempt all uses not
specifically intended to defraud or
deceive consumers’’; and USTelecom
and Verizon ask the Commission to
exempt ‘‘any action required by law or
permitted under § 64.1601(d).’’ Still
other commenters propose exemptions
for caller identification manipulation
involving specific types of practices or
actors. For example, a number of
commenters representing
telecommunications and VoIP providers
express support for an exemption for
carriers and providers that transmit
caller ID information they receive from
their customers or other providers, even
if it turns out to be inaccurate.
Commenters that provide call
management services for telemarketers
and debt collectors, and those that
provide caller ID spoofing services to
the public, suggest that they should be
exempt from responsibility for bad
actors, unless the service provider has
the necessary intent to defraud, cause
harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of
value. Companies that provide call
management services to telemarketers
and debt collectors have also asked the
Commission for an exemption allowing
manipulation of caller ID information so
that a call recipient’s caller ID displays
a local number, regardless of where the
calling party is located. NNEDV suggests
that the Commission exempt victim
service providers, and a private
investigator requests that the
Commission include an exemption for
lawful use by licensed private
investigators. We do not find any of
these exemptions to be necessary or
appropriate.
13. We note that those commenters
that requested that the Commission
exempt manipulation of caller ID
information in order to display a local
phone number, asked in the alternative
that the Commission clarify that
manipulating caller ID to display a local
number is not a violation of the Act. We
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agree that such a practice is not in and
of itself a violation of the Act. We note,
however, that if the display of a
‘‘spoofed’’ local number is done as part
of a scheme to defraud, cause harm, or
wrongfully obtain anything of value,
then the person or entity perpetrating
the scheme would be in violation of the
Act.
14. The legislative history of the Act
makes clear that manipulation or
alteration of caller ID information done
without the requisite harmful intent
does not violate the Act. Nothing in our
implementing rules changes that fact.
Likewise, the transmission of incorrect
caller ID information by carriers and
providers acting without the requisite
intent to defraud, cause harm or
wrongfully obtain anything of value
does not violate the Truth in Caller ID
Act or our rules implementing the Truth
in Caller ID Act. Moreover, we agree
with DOJ that ‘‘none of the commenters
who advocated for a status-based
exemption to the Truth in Caller ID Act
were able to articulate any scenario
whereby legitimate conduct would fall
within the prohibitions of the Act.’’ Like
DOJ, we fear that allowing any such
exemptions could ‘‘create dangerous
loopholes under the Act that could be
exploited by criminals.’’ Therefore, we
decline to adopt any further exemptions
from the Act at this time, primarily
because the ones that have been
presented to us are unnecessary.
C. Definitions
15. The Caller ID Act NPRM proposed
adding definitions to the Commission’s
CPN rules for ‘‘Interconnected VoIP
service’’; ‘‘Caller identification
information’’; ‘‘Caller identification
service’’; and ‘‘information regarding the
origination’’ of a call. We adopt the
proposed definitions for all four of those
terms, with slight modifications to the
definitions of ‘‘Caller identification
service’’ and ‘‘information regarding the
origination.’’
16. Interconnected VoIP service. The
Truth in Caller ID Act covers caller ID
spoofing done ‘‘in connection with any
telecommunications service or IPenabled voice service.’’ As mentioned
above, the rules we adopt today use the
term ‘‘interconnected VoIP service’’
instead of ‘‘IP-enabled voice service.’’
We define ‘‘interconnected VoIP
service’’ to have the same meaning
given that term in § 9.3 of the
Commission’s rules. We do this because
the Act defines ‘‘IP-enabled voice
service’’ by reference to § 9.3 of the
Commission’s regulations, as they may
be amended. Section 9.3 of the
Commission’s rules defines
‘‘interconnected VoIP service,’’ not ‘‘IP-
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enabled voice service.’’ Therefore, to be
consistent with the apparent intent of
Congress in enacting the Truth in Caller
ID act, we limit the scope of the rule’s
coverage to telecommunications
services and interconnected VoIP
services.
17. DOJ and some other commenters
recommend that we adopt rules that
cover VoIP services more expansively
than the Commission’s definition of
‘‘Interconnected VoIP’’ service in § 9.3
of its rules does. We find that the Act’s
incorporation of the Commission’s rule
defining interconnected VoIP service
calls for applying the current definition
found in § 9.3 (as it may be amended
over time). Consequently, the rules we
adopt today use the term
‘‘interconnected VoIP service’’ and
specify that it has the same meaning
given the term ‘‘interconnected VoIP
service’’ in 47 CFR 9.3 as it currently
exists or may hereafter be amended.
However, we are cognizant of the
importance of protecting consumers
from malicious caller ID spoofing as
broadly as possible. To that end, we
raise this issue in the Report to Congress
for further consideration.
18. Caller identification information.
We define ‘‘caller identification
information’’ to mean ‘‘information
provided by a caller identification
service regarding the telephone number
of, or other information regarding the
origination of, a call made using a
telecommunications service or
interconnected VoIP service.’’ This is
the definition the Commission proposed
in the Caller ID Act NPRM and no
commenters offered any reason not to
use this definition.
19. Caller identification service. We
define ‘‘caller identification service’’ to
mean ‘‘any service or device designed to
provide the user of the service or device
with the telephone number of, or other
information regarding the origination of,
a call made using a telecommunications
service or interconnected VoIP service.’’
Unlike the proposed rule, the definition
of ‘‘caller identification service’’ that we
adopt today does not explicitly
reference automatic number
identification (ANI) because, as
discussed below, we have defined
‘‘information regarding the origination’’
to include ‘‘billing number information,
including charge number, ANI, or
pseudo-ANI.’’ By including such billing
number information in the definition of
‘‘information regarding the origination’’
we effectively include within the
definition of ‘‘caller identification
service’’ any service or device designed
to provide the user with any form of the
calling party’s billing number, including
charge number, ANI, or pseudo-ANI.
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20. Information regarding the
origination (of a call). The definitions of
‘‘caller identification information’’ and
‘‘caller identification service’’ in the Act
and in the rules we adopt today both
use the phrase ‘‘the telephone number
of, or other information regarding the
origination of, a call.’’ We define
‘‘information regarding the origination’’
to mean any: (1) Telephone number; (2)
portion of a telephone number, such as
an area code; (3) name; (4) location
information; (5) billing number
information, including charge number,
ANI, or pseudo-ANI; or (6) other
information regarding the source or
apparent source of a telephone call. The
definition we adopt today mirrors the
proposed definition, but adds ‘‘billing
number information including charge
number, ANI, or pseudo-ANI’’ to the
types of information that constitute
‘‘information regarding the origination.’’
We add these types of information to the
definition of ‘‘information regarding the
origination’’ in response to commenters’
concerns about the importance of
transmission of accurate billing
information, including charge number,
ANI and pseudo-ANI, to caller
identification services used by
emergency services providers.
21. Our current rules relating to the
delivery of CPN services define ANI as
referring to the ‘‘delivery of the calling
party’s billing number by a local
exchange carrier to any interconnecting
carrier for billing or routing purposes,
and to the subsequent delivery of such
number to end users.’’ The Caller ID Act
NPRM sought comment on whether the
Commission should use a different
definition of ANI for purposes of the
Truth in Caller ID Act, and in particular,
whether the Commission should
include a definition of ANI that
encompasses charge party numbers
delivered by interconnected VoIP
providers. Some commenters requested
that the Commission revise the current
definition of ANI to encompass billing
numbers delivered by interconnected
VoIP providers. The terms ANI, calling
party number, and charge number in
§ 64.1600 of our rules are used in
sections of the rule that we have not
addressed in this rulemaking; therefore
we decline to amend those definitions at
this time. Other commenters more
generally suggested that the
Commission make sure to include
billing numbers, charge number, ANI
and pseudo-ANI information within the
ambit of the rule.
22. Spoofing caller identification
information transmitted to emergency
services providers is a particularly
dangerous practice, and one that
Congress was particularly concerned
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about when adopting the Truth in Caller
ID Act. ANI and pseudo-ANI are the
foundations of the emergency services
routing infrastructure in the United
States and derive their data exclusively
from information maintained in the
records of the originating carrier. The
delivery of accurate information for any
person who dials 911 or seeks assistance
via 10-digit emergency and nonemergency numbers is fundamental to
ensuring that the correct identifying
information is transmitted with those
calls. While this information may not be
subject to manipulation by callers in the
ordinary course, if an individual or
entity did spoof ANI, the individual
could conceal his or her identity and
location, and could tie up public
response capacity by initiating spoofed
calls designed to cause the dispatch of
responders to locations where no
emergency is at hand. Given the rapid
evolution of technology, and the
consequences of spoofing ANI and
pseudo-ANI, we find that the delivery of
caller identification information to E911
public safety answering points (PSAPs),
which use ANI or pseudo-ANI to look
up the caller’s name and location
information on emergency calls, should
be considered a type of ‘‘information
regarding the origination’’ of a call.
23. The Caller ID Act NPRM sought
comment on whether there are other
things that should be included in the
definition, specifically, information
transmitted in the SS7 Jurisdiction
Information Parameter (JIP) code that
provides information about the location
of a caller who has ported his number
or is calling over a mobile service. As
the record demonstrates, use of the JIP
code can benefit law enforcement and
public safety, and can be used for
improved routing for emergencies.
Therefore, we clarify that ‘‘location
information’’ includes information
transmitted in the SS7 JIP code.
However, in encompassing information
transmitted in the JIP code within our
definition, we do not require that any
providers, including CMRS and VoIP
providers, populate the JIP in signaling
data.
D. Caller ID Blocking
24. The Truth in Caller ID Act
specifies that it is not intended to be
construed to prevent or restrict any
person from blocking the transmission
of caller identification information. The
legislative history shows that Congress
intended to protect and preserve
subscribers’ ability to block the
transmission of their own caller
identification information to called
parties. Consequently, like the proposed
rules, the rules we adopt today provide
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that a person or entity that blocks or
seeks to block a caller identification
service from transmitting or displaying
that person or entity’s own caller
identification information shall not be
liable for violating our rules
implementing the Truth in Caller ID
Act.
25. Although our rules generally
allow callers to block caller ID, as
discussed in the Caller ID Act NPRM,
telemarketers are required to transmit
caller identification information, and
the phone number they transmit must
be one that a person can call to request
placement on a company-specific donot-call list. This requirement allows
consumers to more easily identify
incoming telemarketing calls and to
make informed decisions about whether
to answer particular calls. It also
facilitates consumers’ ability to request
placement on company-specific do-notcall lists. Additionally, the requirement
assists law enforcement investigations
into telemarketing complaints.
Therefore, our rules make clear that
persons or entities engaged in
telemarketing remain obligated to
transmit caller identification
information.
E. Third-Party Spoofing Services
26. As discussed above, one of the
reasons that it is easy for anyone to
spoof their caller ID is that third-party
caller ID spoofing services are widely
available and inexpensive. There are
typically four steps to the process of
using a third-party caller ID spoofing
service to spoof a call. First, the
customer places a call to a companycontrolled toll free or POTS line
number. Second, after the first call is
connected, the customer enters a
personal identification number and then
enters the number he or she wants to
substitute as the caller ID that is
transmitted to the called party. Third,
the customer enters the phone number
he or she wants to call; and fourth, the
spoofing provider—or the carrier it
uses—delivers the call to the
terminating carrier serving the called
number with the requested substitute
number transmitted as the caller’s CPN.
27. Recognizing the role spoofing
providers play in facilitating caller ID
spoofing, the Commission sought
comment on whether the Commission
may, and should, adopt rules imposing
obligations on providers of caller ID
spoofing services when they are not
themselves acting with intent to
defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully
obtain anything of value. More
specifically, the Commission also
sought comment on whether it should
impose record-keeping requirements on
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caller ID spoofing providers. In
addition, the Commission sought
comment on a proposal made by DOJ,
and supported by the Minnesota
Attorney General, to adopt rules
requiring ‘‘public providers of caller ID
spoofing services to make a good-faith
effort to verify that a user has the
authority to use the substituted number,
such as by placing a one-time
verification call to that number.’’
28. Although Itellas and Teltech, the
two third-party caller ID spoofing
services that commented on the Caller
ID Act NPRM, indicate that they do
maintain records of the calls they
facilitate and that they cooperate with
law enforcement investigations, there is
little support among the commenters for
the adoption of rules requiring thirdparty spoofing providers to maintain
records. The third-party spoofing
providers strongly object to any rule
requiring them to verify that their
customers have a right to use the phone
number they choose to spoof. Itellas and
TelTech both argue that requiring users
of caller ID services to verify that they
have authority to use the spoofed
number would be pointless and
ineffective, because people or entities
using caller ID spoofing to carry out a
criminal enterprise can purchase the
software to spoof caller ID rather than
use a third-party provider. They also
argue that verification cannot establish
a caller’s intent, and absent malintent
there can be no violation of the Truth in
Caller ID Act. As TelTech explains,
‘‘[u]sing a number you do not have
permission to spoof is not illegal under
the Act.’’ In its reply comments, NNEDV
agrees that verification requirements
would be inconsistent with the intent
expressed in the legislative history of
the Act, which recognized the
importance of caller ID spoofing to
protect victims of domestic violence.
According to NNEDV, a verification
requirement ‘‘would endanger victims
and ‘domestic violence shelters that
provide false caller ID number (sic) to
prevent call recipients from discovering
the location of victims.’’’ Although
NNEDV objects to DOJ’s proposal that
the Commission impose verification
requirements on caller ID spoofing
services, it does propose that the
Commission require spoofing services to
give prominent notice that use of their
services in violation of the Truth in
Caller ID Act is unlawful.
29. We are very concerned about the
harmful effects of caller ID spoofing
done with malicious intent. We also
recognize that requiring caller ID
spoofing services to verify that users
have the authority to use the substitute
number would likely reduce the use of
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caller ID spoofing to further criminal
schemes, and could simplify law
enforcement efforts to determine who is
behind a caller ID spoofing scheme.
Likewise, the public would benefit from
having third-party caller ID spoofing
providers clearly and conspicuously
notify their users about the practices
prohibited by the Truth in Caller ID Act.
However, we are not convinced that it
is appropriate for the Commission to
impose such obligations on third-party
caller ID spoofing service providers at
this time. In crafting the Truth in Caller
ID Act, we believe that Congress
intended to balance carefully the
drawbacks of malicious caller ID
spoofing against the benefits provided
by legitimate caller ID spoofing. The Act
prohibits spoofing providers, like all
other persons and entities in the United
States, from knowingly spoofing caller
ID with malicious intent. However, the
Act does not expressly impose
additional obligations on providers of
caller ID spoofing services. Following
Congress’ lead, we decline to impose
additional obligations on third-party
spoofing providers at this time.
30. We are cognizant of the fact that
spoofing providers can, and sometimes
do, detect and prevent some types of
illegitimate manipulation of caller ID
spoofing. Itellas, for example, noted in
its comments that its system does not
allow customers to call or display 911,
in order to prevent use of its service for
swatting. Itellas’ system also prevents its
customers from using a specific spoofed
number when placing calls to toll free
numbers in order to prevent users from
using the phone number associated with
a stolen credit card or with a specific
bank account to activate the credit card,
or to transfer money from the
compromised bank account. In its
comments, TelTech represents that it
has closed accounts that it has
identified as appearing to be used to
commit crimes, including money
transfer fraud, activation of stolen credit
cards, or identity theft. However,
spoofing services do not necessarily
know the intent with which their
customers place spoofed calls. Once the
Commission’s rules are in force, we will
have the opportunity to determine
whether the current rules are sufficient
to deter malicious caller ID spoofing. If
they are not, we can revisit the issue. In
the meantime, we raise the issue of
liability for third-party providers in the
report the Act requires the Commission
to submit to Congress.
31. We want to make clear that our
decision not to impose additional
obligations on third-party caller ID
spoofers in no way immunizes them
from the obligation to comply with the
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Act. Where a caller ID spoofing service
causes, directly or indirectly, the
transmission or display of false or
misleading caller ID information with
the intent to defraud, cause harm, or
wrongfully obtain anything of value,
such service will be in violation of the
Truth in Caller ID Act and our rules.
Our conclusion follows from a natural
reading of the statute, which applies to
any ‘‘person’’ who causes caller ID
services to transmit misleading or
inaccurate caller ID information.
Likewise, although we do not decide the
matter here, liability questions would
arise if the totality of the circumstances
demonstrated that a third-party spoofing
provider had promoted its services to
others as a means to defraud, cause
harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of
value.
32. Caller ID Unmasking. As
mentioned in the Caller ID Act NPRM,
some entities—often the same ones that
offer spoofing services—also offer the
ability to unmask a blocked number,
effectively stripping out the privacy
indicator chosen by the calling party.
We remain deeply concerned about
these unmasking services, which
circumvent the privacy protections
afforded by the Commission’s CPN
rules. The record reflects concern
regarding these services as well.
However, the record is not sufficiently
robust to support amendments to our
rules at this time. The Commission will
consider whether to take further
rulemaking action to address these
services in the future. In the meantime,
we take this opportunity to remind
carriers of their obligations to honor
callers’ privacy requests.
F. Amendments to the Commission’s
Enforcement Rules
33. The Act provides for additional
forfeiture penalties for violations of
subsection 227(e) of the
Communications Act, and new
procedures for imposing and recovering
such penalties. In order to fully
implement the Truth in Caller ID Act,
the Commission proposed amendments
to its forfeiture rule, 47 CFR 1.80. The
proposed amendments specified the
forfeiture penalties the Commission
proposed to assess for violations of the
Truth in Caller ID Act, and proposed
procedures for imposing penalties and
recovering such penalties. The
Commission also proposed some minor
revisions to our forfeiture rules to
address issues not directly related to the
Truth in Caller ID Act. For the reasons
discussed below, we now adopt the
proposed amendments to our forfeiture
rules, with some minor modifications.
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43201
34. Amount of Penalties. The Act
specifies that the penalty for a violation
of the Act ‘‘shall not exceed $10,000 for
each violation, or 3 times that amount
for each day of a continuing violation,
except that the amount assessed for any
continuing violation shall not exceed a
total of $1,000,000 for any single act or
failure to act.’’ These forfeitures are in
addition to penalties provided for
elsewhere in the Communications Act.
Therefore, to implement these
provisions of the Truth in Caller ID Act,
we adopt the Commission’s proposal to
amend section 1.80(b) of our rules to
include a provision specifying the
maximum amount of additional fines
that can be assessed for violations of the
Truth in Caller ID Act. In the interest of
consistency and clarity, we also amend
the text and chart in Section III of what
is now the ‘‘Note to Paragraph (b)(5)’’ to
include information about the
maximum additional forfeitures
provided for by the Truth in Caller ID
Act.
35. The Truth in Caller ID Act
establishes the maximum amount of
additional forfeiture penalties the
Commission can assess for a violation of
the Act, but it does not specify how the
Commission should determine the
forfeiture amount in any particular
situation. In order to provide guidance
about the factors the Commission will
use in determining the amount of
penalty it will assess for violations of
the Truth in Caller ID Act, we adopt the
Commission’s proposal to employ the
balancing factors the Commission
typically considers when determining
the amount of a forfeiture penalty.
Those factors are set out in section
503(b)(2)(E) of the Communications Act
and § 1.80(b)(4) of the Commission’s
rules. The balancing factors include
‘‘the nature, circumstances, extent, and
gravity of the violation, and, with
respect to the violator, the degree of
culpability, any history of prior
offenses, ability to pay, and such other
matters as justice may require.’’ These
factors allow the Commission to
properly consider the specific facts of
each case when determining an
appropriate forfeiture penalty.
36. Procedure for Determining
Penalties. With respect to the procedure
for determining or imposing a penalty,
the Act provides that ‘‘[a]ny person that
is determined by the Commission, in
accordance with paragraphs (3) and (4)
of section 503(b) [of the
Communications Act], to have violated
this subsection shall be liable to the
United States for a forfeiture penalty.’’
It also states that ‘‘[n]o forfeiture penalty
shall be determined under clause (i)
against any person unless such person
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receives the notice required by section
503(b)(3) or section 503(b)(4) [of the
Communications Act].’’ As the
Commission indicated in the Caller ID
Act NPRM, taken together, sections
503(b)(3) and 503(b)(4) allow the
Commission to impose a forfeiture
penalty against a person through either
a hearing or a written notice of apparent
liability (NAL), subject to certain
procedures. The Truth in Caller ID Act
makes no reference to section 503(b)(5)
of the Communications Act, which
states that the Commission may not
assess a forfeiture under any provision
of section 503(b) against any person,
who: (i) ‘‘Does not hold a license,
permit, certificate, or other
authorization issued by the
Commission’’; (ii) ‘‘is not an applicant
for a license, permit, certificate, or other
authorization issued by the
Commission’’; or (iii) is not ‘‘engaging in
activities for which a license, permit,
certificate, or other authorization is
required,’’ unless the Commission first
issues a citation to such person in
accordance with certain procedures. As
the Commission explained in the Caller
ID Act NPRM, that omission suggests
that Congress intended to give the
Commission the authority to proceed
expeditiously to stop and, where
appropriate, assess a forfeiture penalty
against, any person or entity engaged in
prohibited caller ID spoofing without
first issuing a citation. Having received
no comments disagreeing with the
Commission’s proposed approach, we
find that it is appropriate and consistent
with Congressional intent to adopt rules
that allow the Commission to determine
or impose a forfeiture penalty for a
violation of section 227(e) against ‘‘any
person,’’ regardless of whether that
person holds a license, permit,
certificate, or other authorization issued
by the Commission; is an applicant for
any of the identified instrumentalities;
or is engaged in activities for which one
of the instrumentalities is required.
37. We also adopt rules that amend
§ 1.80(a) of our rules to add a new
subsection (4) providing that forfeiture
penalties may be assessed against any
person found to have ‘‘violated any
provision of section 227(e) of the
Communications Act or of the rules
issued by the Commission under section
227(e) of that Act.’’ In contrast to section
503(b)(1)(B) of the Communications Act,
which provides for a forfeiture penalty
against anyone who has ‘‘willfully or
repeatedly’’ failed to comply with any
provisions of the Communications Act,
or any regulations issued by the
Commission under the Act, the Truth in
Caller ID Act does not require ‘‘willful’’
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or ‘‘repeated’’ violations to justify
imposition of a penalty. Therefore, we
adopt new § 1.80(a)(4), in accordance
with Congressional direction that the
Commission have authority to assess a
forfeiture penalty for all violations of
section 227(e) or of the rules issued by
the Commission under that section of
the Act.
38. Statute of Limitations. The Truth
in Caller ID Act specifies that ‘‘[n]o
forfeiture penalty shall be determined or
imposed against any person under
[section 227(e)(5)(i)] if the violation
charged occurred more than 2 years
prior to the date of issuance of the
required notice or notice of apparent
liability.’’ We note that this differs from
the more general limitations provision
of section 503(b)(6) of the
Communications Act, which provides
for a one-year statute of limitations in
most cases. Given the explicit language
of the Truth in Caller ID Act, however,
we find that the longer two-year statute
of limitations applies to enforcement of
the Truth in Caller ID Act.
39. Miscellaneous. We also take this
opportunity to revise the undesignated
paragraph in § 1.80(a) to address issues
not directly related to implementation
of the Truth in Caller ID Act and to
redesignate that undesignated text as
‘‘Note to paragraph 1.80(a).’’ First, with
respect to the proposed revisions, in
order to ensure that the language in the
rule encompasses the language used in
all of the statutory provisions, we
amend the rule to specify that the
forfeiture amounts set forth in § 1.80(b)
are inapplicable ‘‘to conduct which is
subject to a forfeiture penalty or fine’’
under the various statutory provisions
listed. (Emphasis added.) Second, we
amend the rule to change the references
to sections 362(a) and 362(b) to sections
364(a) and 364(b) respectively, in order
that the statutory provision references
match those used in the
Communications Act, rather than the
sections of the U.S. Code. Third, we
delete section 503(b) from the list of
statutory provisions to which the
forfeiture amounts in § 1.80(b) do not
apply, because the inclusion was in
error; § 1.80(b) implements the forfeiture
amounts of section 503(b), and so the
penalties set forth in § 1.80(b) apply to
forfeiture under section 503(b).
Procedural Issues
A. Paperwork Reduction Act
40. This document does not contain
new or modified information collection
requirements subject to the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), Public
Law 104–13. In addition, therefore, it
does not contain any new or modified
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information collection burdens for small
business concerns with fewer than 25
employees, pursuant to the Small
Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002,
Public Law 107–198, see 44 U.S.C.
3506(c)(4).
B. Congressional Review Act
41. The Commission will send a copy
of this Report and Order in a report to
be sent to Congress and the Government
Accountability Office pursuant to the
Congressional Review Act, see 5 U.S.C.
801(a)(1)(A).
C. Final Regulatory Flexibility
Certification
42. The Regulatory Flexibility Act of
1980, as amended (RFA) requires that a
regulatory flexibility analysis be
prepared for rulemaking proceedings,
unless the agency certifies that ‘‘the rule
will not have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small
entities.’’ The RFA generally defines
‘‘small entity’’ as having the same
meaning as the terms ‘‘small business,’’
‘‘small organization,’’ and ‘‘small
governmental jurisdiction.’’ In addition,
the term ‘‘small business’’ has the same
meaning as the term ‘‘small business
concern’’ under the Small Business Act.
A small business concern is one which:
(1) Is independently owned and
operated; (2) is not dominant in its field
of operation; and (3) satisfies any
additional criteria established by the
Small Business Administration (SBA).
43. In this Report and Order, the
Commission adopts rules implementing
the Truth in Caller ID Act. The Truth in
Caller ID Act and the implementing
rules we adopt today prohibit any
person or entity in the United States
from knowingly altering or
manipulating caller identification
information with the intent to defraud,
cause harm, or wrongfully obtain
anything of value. The Caller ID Act
NPRM sought comment on benefits and
burdens that would be imposed on
small entities by the proposed rules and
sought comment on an initial regulatory
flexibility analysis (IRFA). No
commenters sought to argue that the
proposed rules would have a significant
impact on a substantial number of small
entities. Indeed, no commenters raised
any concerns about the impact of the
proposed rules on small entities, as
such.
44. The NPRM also sought comment
on whether the Commission may, and
should, adopt rules imposing
obligations on providers of caller ID
spoofing services when they are not
themselves acting with intent to
defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully
obtain anything of value. It also sought
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comment more specifically on whether
the Commission should impose recordkeeping requirements on caller ID
spoofing providers, as well as on a
proposal made by DOJ and supported by
the Minnesota Attorney General to
adopt rules requiring ‘‘public providers
of caller ID spoofing services to make a
good-faith effort to verify that a user has
the authority to use the substituted
number, such as by placing a one-time
verification call to that number. In this
Order, we decline to impose any
additional obligations on providers of
caller ID spoofing services at this time.
Therefore, to the extent that such
requirements would have had an
economic impact on some small
entities, that impact will not occur.
Indeed, the record contains nothing
showing that the cost of compliance
obligations would be economically
significant or would affect a substantial
number of small entities. Indeed, based
on the record before us, we are
persuaded that a substantial number of
small businesses do not engage in caller
ID spoofing with the intent to defraud,
cause harm, or wrongfully obtain
anything of value, and those that do are
already prohibited from doing so by the
Truth in Caller ID Act. Therefore, we
certify that the requirements of this
Report and Order will not have a
significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small
entities. The Commission will send a
copy of the Report and Order including
a copy of this final certification, in a
report to Congress pursuant to the Small
Business Regulatory Enforcement
Fairness Act of 1996. See 5 U.S.C.
801(a)(1)(A). In addition, the Report
and Order and this certification will be
sent to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy
of the Small Business Administration,
and will be published in the Federal
Register. See 5 U.S.C. 605(b).
Ordering Clauses
45. Accordingly, it is ordered that,
pursuant to section 2 of the Truth in
Caller ID Act of 2009, Public Law 11–
331, and sections 1, 4(i), 4(j), 227, and
303(r) of the Communications Act of
1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 151, 154(i),
154(j), 227 and 303(r), this Report and
Order, with all attachments, is adopted.
46. It is further ordered that parts 1
and 64 of the Commission’s rules are
amended.
47. It is further ordered that pursuant
to §§ 1.4(b)(1) and 1.103(a) of the
Commission’s rules, 47 CFR 1.4(b)(1),
1.103(a), this Report and order shall be
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effective 30 days after publication of a
summary in the Federal Register.
48. It is further ordered that the
Commission’s Consumer and
Governmental Affairs Bureau, Reference
Information Center, shall send a copy of
this Report and Order, including the
Final Regulatory Flexibility
Certification, to the Chief Counsel for
Advocacy of the Small Business
Administration.
List of Subjects
47 CFR Part 1
Penalties.
47 CFR Part 64
Communications common carriers,
Caller identification information,
Telecommunications, Telegraph,
Telephone.
Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary.
Final Rules
For the reasons discussed in the
preamble, the Federal Communications
Commission amends 47 CFR parts 1 and
64 as follows:
PART 1—PRACTICE AND
PROCEDURE
1. The authority citation for part 1 is
revised to read as follows:
■
Authority: 15 U.S.C. 79 et seq.; 47 U.S.C.
151, 154(i), 154(j), 155, 157, 225, 227, 303(r),
and 309.
2. Amend § 1.80 as follows:
a. Revise paragraph (a)(3)
b. Designate the undesignated
paragraph following (a)(4) as ‘‘Note to
Paragraph (a)’’ and revise it;
■ c. Redesignate paragraphs (a)(4),
(b)(3), (b)(4), (b)(5), and (c)(3), as
paragraphs (a)(5), (b)(4), (b)(5), (b)(6),
and (c)(4), respectively;
■ d. Redesignate ‘‘Note to Paragraph
(b)(4)’’ as ‘‘Note to paragraph (b)(5)’’ and
revise it;
■ e. Add new paragraphs (a)(4), (b)(3),
and (c)(3);
■ f. Revise redesignated paragraph
(b)(4); and
■ g. Revise paragraph (d).
■
■
■
§ 1.80
Forfeiture proceedings.
(a) * * *
(3) Violated any provision of section
317(c) or 508(a) of the Communications
Act;
(4) Violated any provision of section
227(e) of the Communications Act or of
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43203
the rules issued by the Commission
under section 227(e) of that Act; or
*
*
*
*
*
Note to paragraph (a): A forfeiture penalty
assessed under this section is in addition to
any other penalty provided for by the
Communications Act, except that the
penalties provided for in paragraphs (b)(1)
through (4) of this section shall not apply to
conduct which is subject to a forfeiture
penalty or fine under sections 202(c), 203(e),
205(b), 214(d), 219(b), 220(d), 223(b), 364(a),
364(b), 386(a), 386(b), 506, and 634 of the
Communications Act. The remaining
provisions of this section are applicable to
such conduct.
(b) * * *
(3) Any person determined to have
violated section 227(e) of the
Communications Act or the rules issued
by the Commission under section 227(e)
of the Communications Act shall be
liable to the United States for a
forfeiture penalty of not more than
$10,000 for each violation or three times
that amount for each day of a continuing
violation, except that the amount
assessed for any continuing violation
shall not exceed a total of $1,000,000 for
any single act or failure to act. Such
penalty shall be in addition to any other
forfeiture penalty provided for by the
Communications Act.
(4) In any case not covered by
paragraphs (b)(1), (b)(2) or (b)(3) of this
section, the amount of any forfeiture
penalty determined under this section
shall not exceed $16,000 for each
violation or each day of a continuing
violation, except that the amount
assessed for any continuing violation
shall not exceed a total of $112,500 for
any single act or failure to act described
in paragraph (a) of this section.
*
*
*
*
*
Note to paragraph (b)(5): Guidelines for
Assessing Forfeitures. The Commission and
its staff may use these guidelines in
particular cases. The Commission and its
staff retain the discretion to issue a higher or
lower forfeiture than provided in the
guidelines, to issue no forfeiture at all, or to
apply alternative or additional sanctions as
permitted by the statute. The forfeiture
ceilings per violation or per day for a
continuing violation stated in section 503 of
the Communications Act and the
Commission’s rules are described in
§ 1.80(b)(5)(iii). These statutory maxima
became effective September 2, 2008.
Forfeitures issued under other sections of the
Act are dealt with separately in section III of
this note.
Section I. Base Amounts for Section 503
Forfeitures
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Violation
amount
Forfeitures
Misrepresentation/lack of candor .........................................................................................................................................................
Construction and/or operation without an instrument of authorization for the service .......................................................................
Failure to comply with prescribed lighting and/or marking ..................................................................................................................
Violation of public file rules ..................................................................................................................................................................
Violation of political rules: reasonable access, lowest unit charge, equal opportunity, and discrimination .......................................
Unauthorized substantial transfer of control ........................................................................................................................................
Violation of children’s television commercialization or programming requirements ...........................................................................
Violations of rules relating to distress and safety frequencies ............................................................................................................
False distress communications ...........................................................................................................................................................
EAS equipment not installed or operational ........................................................................................................................................
Alien ownership violation .....................................................................................................................................................................
Failure to permit inspection .................................................................................................................................................................
Transmission of indecent/obscene materials ......................................................................................................................................
Interference ..........................................................................................................................................................................................
Importation or marketing of unauthorized equipment .........................................................................................................................
Exceeding of authorized antenna height .............................................................................................................................................
Fraud by wire, radio or television ........................................................................................................................................................
Unauthorized discontinuance of service ..............................................................................................................................................
Use of unauthorized equipment ..........................................................................................................................................................
Exceeding power limits ........................................................................................................................................................................
Failure to respond to Commission communications ...........................................................................................................................
Violation of sponsorship ID requirements ...........................................................................................................................................
Unauthorized emissions ......................................................................................................................................................................
Using unauthorized frequency .............................................................................................................................................................
Failure to engage in required frequency coordination ........................................................................................................................
Construction or operation at unauthorized location ............................................................................................................................
Violation of requirements pertaining to broadcasting of lotteries or contests .....................................................................................
Violation of transmitter control and metering requirements ................................................................................................................
Failure to file required forms or information ........................................................................................................................................
Failure to make required measurements or conduct required monitoring ..........................................................................................
Failure to provide station ID ................................................................................................................................................................
Unauthorized pro forma transfer of control .........................................................................................................................................
Failure to maintain required records ...................................................................................................................................................
1Statutory
(1)
$10,000
10,000
10,000
9,000
8,000
8,000
8,000
8,000
8,000
8,000
7,000
7,000
7,000
7,000
5,000
5,000
5,000
5,000
4,000
4,000
4,000
4,000
4,000
4,000
4,000
4,000
3,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
1,000
1,000
Maximum for each Service.
VIOLATIONS UNIQUE TO THE SERVICE
Violation
Services affected
Unauthorized conversion of long distance telephone service .....................................................................
Violation of operator services requirements ................................................................................................
Violation of pay-per-call requirements .........................................................................................................
Failure to implement rate reduction or refund order ...................................................................................
Violation of cable program access rules .....................................................................................................
Violation of cable leased access rules ........................................................................................................
Violation of cable cross-ownership rules .....................................................................................................
Violation of cable broadcast carriage rules .................................................................................................
Violation of pole attachment rules ...............................................................................................................
Failure to maintain directional pattern within prescribed parameters .........................................................
Violation of main studio rule ........................................................................................................................
Violation of broadcast hoax rule ..................................................................................................................
AM tower fencing .........................................................................................................................................
Broadcasting telephone conversations without authorization .....................................................................
Violation of enhanced underwriting requirements .......................................................................................
Common Carrier ........
Common Carrier ........
Common Carrier ........
Cable .........................
Cable .........................
Cable .........................
Cable .........................
Cable .........................
Cable .........................
Broadcast ..................
Broadcast ..................
Broadcast ..................
Broadcast ..................
Broadcast ..................
Broadcast ..................
Downward Adjustment Criteria
Section II. Adjustment Criteria for
Section 503 Forfeitures
(1) Minor violation.
(2) Good faith or voluntary disclosure.
(3) History of overall compliance.
(4) Inability to pay.
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Upward Adjustment Criteria
(1) Egregious misconduct.
(2) Ability to pay/relative
disincentive.
(3) Intentional violation.
(4) Substantial harm.
(5) Prior violations of any FCC
requirements.
(6) Substantial economic gain.
(7) Repeated or continuous violation.
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Section III. Non-Section 503 Forfeitures
That Are Affected by the Downward
Adjustment Factors
Unlike section 503 of the Act, which
establishes maximum forfeiture
amounts, other sections of the Act, with
two exceptions, state prescribed
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Fmt 4700
Sfmt 4700
Amount
$40,000
7,000
7,000
7,500
7,500
7,500
7,500
7,500
7,500
7,000
7,000
7,000
7,000
4,000
2,000
amounts of forfeitures for violations of
the relevant section. These amounts are
then subject to mitigation or remission
under section 504 of the Act. One
exception is section 223 of the Act,
which provides a maximum forfeiture
per day. For convenience, the
Commission will treat this amount as if
it were a prescribed base amount,
subject to downward adjustments. The
other exception is section 227(e) of the
Act, which provides maximum
forfeitures per violation, and for
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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 139 / Wednesday, July 20, 2011 / Rules and Regulations
continuing violations. The Commission
will apply the factors set forth in section
503(b)(2)(E) of the Act and section III of
this note to determine the amount of the
penalty to assess in any particular
situation. The following amounts are
adjusted for inflation pursuant to the
Debt Collection Improvement Act of
1996 (DCIA), 28 U.S.C. 2461. These nonsection 503 forfeitures may be adjusted
downward using the ‘‘Downward
Adjustment Criteria’’ shown for section
503 forfeitures in section II of this note.
Statutory amount
($)
Violation
Sec.
Sec.
Sec.
Sec.
Sec.
Sec.
Sec.
Sec.
202(c) Common Carrier Discrimination ...........................................
203(e) Common Carrier Tariffs ........................................................
205(b) Common Carrier Prescriptions .............................................
214(d) Common Carrier Line Extensions ........................................
219(b) Common Carrier Reports .....................................................
220(d) Common Carrier Records & Accounts .................................
223(b) Dial-a-Porn ............................................................................
227(e) ...............................................................................................
Sec.
Sec.
Sec.
Sec.
Sec.
364(a) Forfeitures (Ships) ................................................................
364(b) Forfeitures (Ships) ................................................................
386(a) Forfeitures (Ships) ................................................................
386(b) Forfeitures (Ships) ................................................................
634 Cable EEO ................................................................................
jlentini on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with RULES
*
*
*
*
*
(c) * * *
(3) In the case of a forfeiture imposed
under section 227(e), no forfeiture will
be imposed if the violation occurred
more than 2 years prior to the date on
which the appropriate notice is issued.
*
*
*
*
*
(d) Preliminary procedure in some
cases; citations. Except for a forfeiture
imposed under subsection 227(e)(5) of
the Act, no forfeiture penalty shall be
imposed upon any person under this
section of the Act if such person does
not hold a license, permit, certificate, or
other authorization issued by the
Commission, and if such person is not
an applicant for a license, permit,
certificate, or other authorization issued
by the Commission, unless, prior to the
issuance of the appropriate notice, such
person:
(1) Is sent a citation reciting the
violation charged;
(2) Is given a reasonable opportunity
(usually 30 days) to request a personal
interview with a Commission official, at
the field office which is nearest to such
person’s place of residence; and
(3) Subsequently engages in conduct
of the type described in the citation.
However, a forfeiture penalty may be
imposed, if such person is engaged in
(and the violation relates to) activities
for which a license, permit, certificate,
or other authorization is required or if
such person is a cable television
operator, or in the case of violations of
section 303(q), if the person involved is
a nonlicensee tower owner who has
previously received notice of the
obligations imposed by section 303(q)
from the Commission or the permittee
or licensee who uses that tower.
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Jkt 223001
43205
9,600, 530/day.
9,600, 530/day.
18,200.
1,320/day.
1,320.
9,600/day.
75,000/day.
10,000/violation.
30,000/day for each day of continuing violation, up to 1 million for any
single act or failure to act.
7,500 (owner).
1,100 (vessel master).
7,500/day (owner).
1,100 (vessel master).
650/day.
Paragraph (c) of this section does not
limit the issuance of citations. When the
requirements of this paragraph have
been satisfied with respect to a
particular violation by a particular
person, a forfeiture penalty may be
imposed upon such person for conduct
of the type described in the citation
without issuance of an additional
citation.
*
*
*
*
*
PART 64—MISCELLANEOUS RULES
RELATING TO COMMON CARRIERS
3. The authority citation for part 64 is
revised to read as follows:
■
Authority: 47 U.S.C. 154, 254(k), 227; secs.
403(b)(2)(B), (c), Pub. L. 104–104, 100 Stat.
56. Interpret or apply 47 U.S.C. 201, 218, 222,
225, 226, 207, 228, and 254(k) unless
otherwise noted.
4. Section 64.1600 is amended by
redesignating paragraphs (c), (d), (e),
and (f) as paragraphs (e), (f), (i), and (j)
respectively and by adding new
paragraphs (c), (d), (g), and (h) to read
as follows:
■
§ 64.1600
Definitions.
*
*
*
*
*
(c) Caller identification information.
The term ‘‘caller identification
information’’ means information
provided by a caller identification
service regarding the telephone number
of, or other information regarding the
origination of, a call made using a
telecommunications service or
interconnected VoIP service.
(d) Caller identification service. The
term ‘‘caller identification service’’
means any service or device designed to
provide the user of the service or device
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Frm 00095
Fmt 4700
Sfmt 4700
with the telephone number of, or other
information regarding the origination of,
a call made using a telecommunications
service or interconnected VoIP service.
*
*
*
*
*
(g) Information regarding the
origination. The term ‘‘information
regarding the origination’’ means any:
(1) Telephone number;
(2) Portion of a telephone number,
such as an area code;
(3) Name;
(4) Location information;
(5) Billing number information,
including charge number, ANI, or
pseudo-ANI; or
(6) Other information regarding the
source or apparent source of a telephone
call.
(h) Interconnected VoIP service. The
term ‘‘interconnected VoIP service’’ has
the same meaning given the term
‘‘interconnected VoIP service’’ in 47
CFR 9.3 as it currently exists or may
hereafter be amended.
*
*
*
*
*
§ 64.1604
[Redesignated as § 64.1605]
5. Section 64.1604 is redesignated as
section 64.1605, and a new section
64.1604 is added to read as follows:
■
§ 64.1604 Prohibition on transmission of
inaccurate or misleading caller
identification information.
(a) No person or entity in the United
States shall, with the intent to defraud,
cause harm, or wrongfully obtain
anything of value, knowingly cause,
directly or indirectly, any caller
identification service to transmit or
display misleading or inaccurate caller
identification information.
(b) Exemptions. Paragraph (a) of this
section shall not apply to:
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(1) 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 an intelligence agency
of the United States; or
(2) Activity engaged in pursuant to a
court order that specifically authorizes
the use of caller identification
manipulation.
(c) A person or entity that blocks or
seeks to block a caller identification
service from transmitting or displaying
that person or entity’s own caller
identification information pursuant to
§ 64.1601(b) of this part shall not be
liable for violating the prohibition in
paragraph (a) of this section. This
paragraph (c) does not relieve any
person or entity that engages in
telemarketing, as defined in
§ 64.1200(f)(10) of this part, of the
obligation to transmit caller
identification information under
§ 64.1601(e).
[FR Doc. 2011–18165 Filed 7–19–11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712–01–P
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS
COMMISSION
47 CFR Parts 61 and 64
[WC Docket No. 10–141; FCC 11–92]
Electronic Tariff Filing System (ETFS)
Federal Communications
Commission.
ACTION: Final rule.
AGENCY:
Synopsis of Report and Order
In this document, the Federal
Communications Commission
(Commission) adopts rule revisions
enabling all tariff filers to file tariffs
electronically over the Internet, using
the Electronic Tariff Filing System
(ETFS). Additionally, the Commission
clarifies and makes more consistent
certain technical rules related to tariff
filings. The Commission concludes that
it is appropriate to apply the same
electronic filing requirements to all
tariff filers and expands the
applicability of the Commission’s rules
to include all tariff filers. The
Commission also concludes that the
Commission’s rules, which require
specific formatting and composition of
tariffs, will now apply to all tariff filers.
The Chief of the Wireline Competition
Bureau will be responsible for
administering the adoption of electronic
tariff filing requirements for all tariff
filers.
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SUMMARY:
This rule contains information
collection requirements that have not
been approved by Office of Management
DATES:
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16:14 Jul 19, 2011
Jkt 223001
and Budget. The Commission will
publish a document in the Federal
Register announcing the effective date
for the revised rules. Tariff filers will
then have a 60-day window in which to
file their first electronic tariff.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Pamela Arluk, Wireline Competition
Bureau, Pricing Policy Division, 202–
418–1520. For additional information
concerning the Paperwork Reduction
Act information collection requirements
contained in this document, send an email to PRA@fcc.gov or contact Judith B.
Herman at 202–418–0214.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a
synopsis of the Commission’s Report
and Order (Order), FCC 11–92, adopted
and released on June 9, 2011. The full
text of the Order is available for
inspection and copying during regular
business hours in the FCC Reference
Center, 445 Twelfth Street, SW., Room
CY–A257, Portals II, Washington, DC
20554, and may also be purchased from
the Commission’s copy contractor,
BCPI, Inc., Portals II, 445 Twelfth Street,
SW., Room CY–B402, Washington, DC
20554. Customers may contact BCPI,
Inc. via their Web site, https://
www.bcpi.com, or call 1–800–378–3160.
This document is available in
alternative formats (computer diskette,
large print, audio record, and Braille).
Persons with disabilities who need
documents in these formats may contact
the FCC by e-mail: FCC504@fcc.gov or
phone: 202–418–0530 or TTY: 202–418–
0432.
1. In the ETFS Notice of Proposed
rulemaking (NPRM), the Commission
provided a detailed description of the
Commission’s implementation of the
statutory tariff streamlining
requirements and the development and
implementation of the ETFS. To
summarize briefly, on September 6,
1996, the Commission released the
Tariff Streamlining NPRM, 61 FR
49,987, September 24, 1996, proposing
measures to implement the tariff
streamlining requirements of section
204(a)(3) of the Communications Act of
1934, as amended (Act), including a
proposal that would require LECs to file
tariffs electronically. The Commission
began implementing the electronic filing
of tariffs on January 31, 1997, when it
released the Streamlined Tariff Order.
On May 28, 1998, the Common Carrier
Bureau (Bureau) released the ETFS
Order, 63 FR 35,539, June 30, 1998, in
which it established July 1, 1998, as the
date after which incumbent LECs would
be required to use the ETFS to file tariffs
and associated documents. Although the
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Frm 00096
Fmt 4700
Sfmt 4700
Tariff Streamlining NPRM proposed
mandatory electronic filing by all local
exchange carriers, the Bureau limited
the scope of the ETFS Order to
incumbent LECs.
2. In 1996, the Commission ordered
mandatory detariffing of most interstate,
domestic interexchange services of
nondominant interexchange carriers,
but permitted some exceptions to the
mandatory detariffing requirement. In
addition, nondominant carriers
continued to file tariffs for other
services that were unaffected by the
Detariffing Order. Competitive LECs are
permitted to tariff interstate switched
access charges if the charges are no
higher than the rate charged for such
services by the competing incumbent
LEC except where the rural exemption
applies. Competitive LECs are also
permitted to tariff other interstate access
services such as special access. In
contrast to tariff filings by incumbent
LECs, tariff filings by nondominant
carriers are currently submitted on
diskette, CD–ROM accompanied by a
cover letter, and paper for informational
tariffs, all of which are cumbersome and
costly for the carrier and the
Commission, and make it difficult for
interested parties to review the
documents due to internal distribution
and storage barriers.
3. On July 15, 2010, the Commission
released the ETFS NPRM, 75 FR 48,629,
August 11, 2010, which proposed to
modify the Commission’s rules to
require all tariff filers to file tariffs and
other associated documents via the
ETFS. The Commission requested
comments on the benefits these rule
modifications would produce. The
Commission also requested comment on
a number of technical rule
modifications that would be necessary
to implement the new electronic filing
requirements. Four comments were
received, all urging the Commission to
quickly adopt the proposed rules.
4. As shown below, electronic filing
for all tariff filers will greatly benefit the
public, carriers, and the Commission.
Accordingly, we adopt rule
modifications that require electronic
tariff filing for all tariff filers.
Specifically, we require all tariff filers to
follow the Commission’s rules for
electronic tariff filing and file using the
ETFS for their tariffs, tariff revisions,
Base Documents, and associated
documents, including applications for
special permission, and petitions and
replies to petitions against tariff filings.
5. After review of the record, we
conclude that electronic filing of all
tariffs and associated documents will
facilitate the administration of
nondominant tariffs and therefore is in
E:\FR\FM\20JYR1.SGM
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Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 139 (Wednesday, July 20, 2011)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 43196-43206]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-18165]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
47 CFR Parts 1 and 64
[WC Docket No. 11-39; FCC 11-100]
Implementation of the Truth in Caller ID Act
AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Final rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: In this Report and Order (Order), the Commission adopts rules
to implement the Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009 (Truth in Caller ID
Act, or Act). The Truth in Caller ID Act, and the Commission's
implementing rules, prohibit any person or entity from knowingly
altering or manipulating caller identification information with the
intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value.
DATES: Effective August 19, 2011.
ADDRESSES: Federal Communications Commission, 445 12th Street, SW.,
Washington, DC 20554.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lisa Hone, Wireline Competition
Bureau, (202) 418-1580.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's Report
and Order (Order) in WC Docket No. 11-39, FCC 11-100, adopted June 20,
2011, and released June 22, 2011. In this Order, the Commission adopts
rules to
[[Page 43197]]
implement the Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009. Caller ID services
typically identify the telephone numbers and sometimes the names
associated with incoming calls, thus allowing consumers to decide
whether or how to answer a phone call based on who appears to be
calling. However, caller ID information can be altered or manipulated
(``spoofed''). Increasingly, bad actors are spoofing caller ID
information in order to facilitate a wide variety of malicious schemes.
In response to the increasing use of caller ID spoofing to facilitate
schemes that defraud consumers and threaten public safety, Congress
passed the Truth in Caller ID Act. The Truth in Caller ID Act, and the
Commission's implementing rules, prohibit any person or entity from
knowingly spoofing caller identification information with the intent to
defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value.
Synopsis of Report and Order
I. Implementation of the Truth in Caller ID Act
1. Having considered the record in this proceeding, we adopt rules
that prohibit any person or entity in the United States, acting with
the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of
value, from knowingly causing, directly or indirectly, any caller
identification service to transmit or display misleading or inaccurate
caller identification information. The revisions to the Commission's
Calling Party Number (CPN) rules are modeled on the Act's prohibition
against knowingly engaging in caller ID spoofing with fraudulent or
harmful intent. The rules include exemptions based on conduct the Act
identifies as exempt from its prohibitions. The revised rules also
include new definitions, including several modeled after definitions in
the Act. As proposed in the Caller ID Act NPRM, 76 FR 16367, the
revised rules also specify that blocking or attempting to block one's
own caller ID is not a violation of the new rules, while clarifying
that telemarketers are not relieved of their obligation to transmit
caller identification information.
A. Prohibited Practice
2. The principal implementing rule we adopt provides that ``no
person or entity in the United States shall, with intent to defraud,
cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value, knowingly cause,
directly or indirectly, any caller identification service to transmit
or display misleading or inaccurate caller identification
information.'' The wording of the prohibition in our rules generally
tracks the wording of the prohibition in the Act, and is unchanged from
the rule the Commission proposed in the Caller ID Act NPRM.
3. The Act specifies that the prohibited conduct is ``in connection
with any telecommunications or IP-enabled voice service.'' Because we
define the terms ``caller identification service'' and ``caller
identification information'' to encompass the use of telecommunications
services and ``interconnected VoIP services,'' we do not need to
specify in the rule that the prohibition encompasses calls made using
telecommunications services and IP-enabled voice services, as specified
in the Act.
4. We also note that the Act is directed at ``any person,'' but
does not define the term ``person.'' In order to make clear that the
rules are not limited to natural persons and to be consistent with the
Commission's current rules concerning the delivery of CPN, our
amendments to the CPN rules use the phrase any ``person or entity.'' By
contrast, the amendments to the Commission's forfeiture rules use the
term ``person'' in order to be consistent with use of the term
``person'' in the forfeiture rules. In both cases, we intend for the
entities covered to be those within the scope of the definition of
``person'' in the Communications Act. The only commenter that addressed
the use of the phrase ``person or entity'' in the proposed rules
supported the Commission's clarification that the rule applies to both
natural persons and other entities.
5. In the Caller ID Act NPRM, the Commission asked about the
placement of the term ``knowingly'' in the proposed rules. As with the
proposed rules, the rules we adopt today provide that in order to
violate the rules, the person or entity ``knowingly'' causing
transmission or display of inaccurate or misleading caller
identification must be the same person or entity that is acting with
intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value.
The Truth in Caller ID Act is aimed at prohibiting the use of caller ID
spoofing for ill intent. Therefore, we believe that an entity subject
to liability for violating the Act must knowingly spoof caller
identification information and do so with intent to defraud, cause
harm, or wrongfully obtain something of value.
6. Most commenters agreed with the Commission's proposal to clarify
that the word ``knowingly'' modifies the action of the person or entity
engaged in malicious caller ID spoofing because this is the most
logical reading of placement of the word in the Truth in Caller ID Act.
However, in its reply comments, the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC)
recommends that the Commission change the placement of the word
``knowingly'' so that it modifies the actions of the caller
identification service or modify the rule so that spoofing services are
prohibited from knowingly transmitting misleading or inaccurate caller
identification information for a party violating the Act. PRC argues
that requiring that the same person or entity knowingly cause the
transmission or display of misleading or inaccurate caller
identification information and have the requisite intent to ``defraud,
cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value'' imposes an
unnecessary hurdle to enforcement efforts.
7. We disagree with PRC's arguments. Based on our reading of the
statute, it is not enough that a person or entity intend to defraud,
cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value to violate the Truth
in Caller ID Act. Rather, the person or entity intending to defraud,
cause harm or wrongfully obtain anything of value must facilitate the
scheme through the manipulation or alteration of caller identification
information. Moreover, adopting a rule in which ``knowingly'' modifies
the action of the caller identification service would not impose
liability on caller ID spoofing services for knowingly manipulating
caller identification information absent intent to defraud, cause harm,
or wrongfully obtain anything of value. Nor would it ease the burden on
law enforcement of proving a violation of the Act. Instead, it would
require law enforcers to show that the provider of the caller ID
service--usually a terminating carrier or VoIP provider--knew that the
incoming caller identification information was manipulated or altered.
As the Commission noted in the Caller ID Act NPRM, ``in many instances
the caller identification service has no way of knowing whether or not
the caller identification information it receives has been
manipulated.'' We do not believe Congress intended to impose liability
on caller ID spoofers acting with malicious intent only upon proof that
the provider of the call recipient's caller ID service knew that the
caller identification information was manipulated or altered. That
would be a perverse result, wholly inconsistent with the intent of the
Act and its legislative history.
8. As for PRC's suggestion that we modify the rule to hold spoofing
providers liable for transmitting
[[Page 43198]]
inaccurate or misleading caller identification information on behalf of
someone violating the Act, as discussed below, we choose to follow
Congress' lead in not imposing additional obligations on spoofing
providers. We find that the proposed rules and the rules we adopt today
are consistent with Congressional intent to focus on whether a person
or entity has knowingly manipulated the caller identification
information in order to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain
anything of value, and therefore we adopt the prohibition on caller ID
spoofing as proposed in the Caller ID Act NPRM. The person or entity
that knowingly causes caller ID services to transmit or display
misleading or inaccurate information may, in some cases, be a carrier,
spoofing provider or other service provider, and we do not exempt such
conduct from the purview of our rules. Indeed, we believe that caller
ID spoofing done to wrongfully avoid payment of intercarrier
compensation charges--whether by the originating provider, an
intermediate carrier, or other intermediate entity--would be a
violation of our rules.
9. Like the proposed rules, the rules we adopt today address both
transmission and display of misleading or inaccurate caller
identification information to make clear that, even if a carrier or
interconnected VoIP provider transmits accurate caller identification
information, it would be a violation for a person or entity to
knowingly cause, directly or indirectly, a device that displays caller
identification information to display inaccurate or misleading
information with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully
obtain anything of value. We also note that the rules we adopt today
cover situations in which a person or entity is ``directly or
indirectly'' causing a caller identification service to transmit or
display misleading or inaccurate caller ID. We include the concept of
``indirect'' action in our rules to foreclose those acting with the
requisite harmful intent from arguing that they are not liable merely
because they have engaged a third party to cause the transmission or
display of inaccurate or misleading caller identification information.
10. In the Caller ID Act NPRM, the Commission sought comment on
whether the proposed prohibition on causing any caller identification
service to transmit or display ``misleading or inaccurate'' caller
identification information with the ``intent to defraud, cause harm, or
wrongfully obtain anything of value'' provides clear guidance about
what actions are prohibited. Commenters generally agreed that the terms
in the proposed rule were sufficiently clear. We agree. Although we do
not believe it is necessary to offer additional definitions to clarify
the meaning of the prohibited actions, we do agree with the National
Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) that the term ``harm'' is a
broad concept that encompasses financial, physical, and emotional harm,
include stalking, harassment, and the violation of protection and
restraining orders. Moreover, NNEDV offers substantial evidence that
abusive spouses use third-party caller ID services to harass and stalk
their victims. We consider knowing manipulation or alteration of caller
identification information for the purpose of harassing or stalking
someone to be an egregious violation of the Act and of our rules
implementing the Act. We intend to enforce our rules vigorously,
including against those who engage in such malicious practices, and we
encourage spoofing providers to notify their customers in no uncertain
terms that such actions are illegal.
B. Exemptions
11. The Act directs the Commission to exempt from its regulations
(i) any authorized activity of a law enforcement agency; and (ii) court
orders that specifically authorize the use of caller identification
manipulation. Separately, the Act also makes clear that it ``does not
prohibit any 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 an intelligence
agency of the United States.'' DOJ requested that the Commission
explicitly incorporate lawfully authorized investigative, protective,
or intelligence activities into the exemptions to the Commission's
implementing rule. In light of the statutory language specifying that
such activities are not prohibited by the Act and DOJ's request that
such activities be included in the exemptions to the Commission's
implementing rule, the proposed rule incorporated the two exemptions
specified in the Act, and expanded the exemption for law enforcement
activities to cover protective and intelligence activities. No
commenters objected to the proposed rule, and AT&T, the only commenter
other than DOJ that addressed the exemptions in the proposed rule,
supported their adoption. Thus, the record supports our decision to
include those exemptions in the rule we adopt today.
12. We decline to adopt any other exemptions from the Act.
Commenters have proposed a number of additional exemptions, all of
which cover practices that, as described by the commenters themselves,
would not violate the plain language of the Act. Some commenters assert
that absent additional exemptions, the rules might be misinterpreted to
prohibit normal and helpful business practices, such as those designed
to facilitate communications with customers. As a result some
commenters ask for broad exemptions to the Act. AT&T, for example, asks
the Commission to make clear that caller ID manipulation ``for
legitimate business reasons'' is exempt; inContact asks the Commission
to ``exempt all uses not specifically intended to defraud or deceive
consumers''; and USTelecom and Verizon ask the Commission to exempt
``any action required by law or permitted under Sec. 64.1601(d).''
Still other commenters propose exemptions for caller identification
manipulation involving specific types of practices or actors. For
example, a number of commenters representing telecommunications and
VoIP providers express support for an exemption for carriers and
providers that transmit caller ID information they receive from their
customers or other providers, even if it turns out to be inaccurate.
Commenters that provide call management services for telemarketers and
debt collectors, and those that provide caller ID spoofing services to
the public, suggest that they should be exempt from responsibility for
bad actors, unless the service provider has the necessary intent to
defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value. Companies
that provide call management services to telemarketers and debt
collectors have also asked the Commission for an exemption allowing
manipulation of caller ID information so that a call recipient's caller
ID displays a local number, regardless of where the calling party is
located. NNEDV suggests that the Commission exempt victim service
providers, and a private investigator requests that the Commission
include an exemption for lawful use by licensed private investigators.
We do not find any of these exemptions to be necessary or appropriate.
13. We note that those commenters that requested that the
Commission exempt manipulation of caller ID information in order to
display a local phone number, asked in the alternative that the
Commission clarify that manipulating caller ID to display a local
number is not a violation of the Act. We
[[Page 43199]]
agree that such a practice is not in and of itself a violation of the
Act. We note, however, that if the display of a ``spoofed'' local
number is done as part of a scheme to defraud, cause harm, or
wrongfully obtain anything of value, then the person or entity
perpetrating the scheme would be in violation of the Act.
14. The legislative history of the Act makes clear that
manipulation or alteration of caller ID information done without the
requisite harmful intent does not violate the Act. Nothing in our
implementing rules changes that fact. Likewise, the transmission of
incorrect caller ID information by carriers and providers acting
without the requisite intent to defraud, cause harm or wrongfully
obtain anything of value does not violate the Truth in Caller ID Act or
our rules implementing the Truth in Caller ID Act. Moreover, we agree
with DOJ that ``none of the commenters who advocated for a status-based
exemption to the Truth in Caller ID Act were able to articulate any
scenario whereby legitimate conduct would fall within the prohibitions
of the Act.'' Like DOJ, we fear that allowing any such exemptions could
``create dangerous loopholes under the Act that could be exploited by
criminals.'' Therefore, we decline to adopt any further exemptions from
the Act at this time, primarily because the ones that have been
presented to us are unnecessary.
C. Definitions
15. The Caller ID Act NPRM proposed adding definitions to the
Commission's CPN rules for ``Interconnected VoIP service''; ``Caller
identification information''; ``Caller identification service''; and
``information regarding the origination'' of a call. We adopt the
proposed definitions for all four of those terms, with slight
modifications to the definitions of ``Caller identification service''
and ``information regarding the origination.''
16. Interconnected VoIP service. The Truth in Caller ID Act covers
caller ID spoofing done ``in connection with any telecommunications
service or IP-enabled voice service.'' As mentioned above, the rules we
adopt today use the term ``interconnected VoIP service'' instead of
``IP-enabled voice service.'' We define ``interconnected VoIP service''
to have the same meaning given that term in Sec. 9.3 of the
Commission's rules. We do this because the Act defines ``IP-enabled
voice service'' by reference to Sec. 9.3 of the Commission's
regulations, as they may be amended. Section 9.3 of the Commission's
rules defines ``interconnected VoIP service,'' not ``IP-enabled voice
service.'' Therefore, to be consistent with the apparent intent of
Congress in enacting the Truth in Caller ID act, we limit the scope of
the rule's coverage to telecommunications services and interconnected
VoIP services.
17. DOJ and some other commenters recommend that we adopt rules
that cover VoIP services more expansively than the Commission's
definition of ``Interconnected VoIP'' service in Sec. 9.3 of its rules
does. We find that the Act's incorporation of the Commission's rule
defining interconnected VoIP service calls for applying the current
definition found in Sec. 9.3 (as it may be amended over time).
Consequently, the rules we adopt today use the term ``interconnected
VoIP service'' and specify that it has the same meaning given the term
``interconnected VoIP service'' in 47 CFR 9.3 as it currently exists or
may hereafter be amended. However, we are cognizant of the importance
of protecting consumers from malicious caller ID spoofing as broadly as
possible. To that end, we raise this issue in the Report to Congress
for further consideration.
18. Caller identification information. We define ``caller
identification information'' to mean ``information provided by a caller
identification service regarding the telephone number of, or other
information regarding the origination of, a call made using a
telecommunications service or interconnected VoIP service.'' This is
the definition the Commission proposed in the Caller ID Act NPRM and no
commenters offered any reason not to use this definition.
19. Caller identification service. We define ``caller
identification service'' to mean ``any service or device designed to
provide the user of the service or device with the telephone number of,
or other information regarding the origination of, a call made using a
telecommunications service or interconnected VoIP service.'' Unlike the
proposed rule, the definition of ``caller identification service'' that
we adopt today does not explicitly reference automatic number
identification (ANI) because, as discussed below, we have defined
``information regarding the origination'' to include ``billing number
information, including charge number, ANI, or pseudo-ANI.'' By
including such billing number information in the definition of
``information regarding the origination'' we effectively include within
the definition of ``caller identification service'' any service or
device designed to provide the user with any form of the calling
party's billing number, including charge number, ANI, or pseudo-ANI.
20. Information regarding the origination (of a call). The
definitions of ``caller identification information'' and ``caller
identification service'' in the Act and in the rules we adopt today
both use the phrase ``the telephone number of, or other information
regarding the origination of, a call.'' We define ``information
regarding the origination'' to mean any: (1) Telephone number; (2)
portion of a telephone number, such as an area code; (3) name; (4)
location information; (5) billing number information, including charge
number, ANI, or pseudo-ANI; or (6) other information regarding the
source or apparent source of a telephone call. The definition we adopt
today mirrors the proposed definition, but adds ``billing number
information including charge number, ANI, or pseudo-ANI'' to the types
of information that constitute ``information regarding the
origination.'' We add these types of information to the definition of
``information regarding the origination'' in response to commenters'
concerns about the importance of transmission of accurate billing
information, including charge number, ANI and pseudo-ANI, to caller
identification services used by emergency services providers.
21. Our current rules relating to the delivery of CPN services
define ANI as referring to the ``delivery of the calling party's
billing number by a local exchange carrier to any interconnecting
carrier for billing or routing purposes, and to the subsequent delivery
of such number to end users.'' The Caller ID Act NPRM sought comment on
whether the Commission should use a different definition of ANI for
purposes of the Truth in Caller ID Act, and in particular, whether the
Commission should include a definition of ANI that encompasses charge
party numbers delivered by interconnected VoIP providers. Some
commenters requested that the Commission revise the current definition
of ANI to encompass billing numbers delivered by interconnected VoIP
providers. The terms ANI, calling party number, and charge number in
Sec. 64.1600 of our rules are used in sections of the rule that we
have not addressed in this rulemaking; therefore we decline to amend
those definitions at this time. Other commenters more generally
suggested that the Commission make sure to include billing numbers,
charge number, ANI and pseudo-ANI information within the ambit of the
rule.
22. Spoofing caller identification information transmitted to
emergency services providers is a particularly dangerous practice, and
one that Congress was particularly concerned
[[Page 43200]]
about when adopting the Truth in Caller ID Act. ANI and pseudo-ANI are
the foundations of the emergency services routing infrastructure in the
United States and derive their data exclusively from information
maintained in the records of the originating carrier. The delivery of
accurate information for any person who dials 911 or seeks assistance
via 10-digit emergency and non-emergency numbers is fundamental to
ensuring that the correct identifying information is transmitted with
those calls. While this information may not be subject to manipulation
by callers in the ordinary course, if an individual or entity did spoof
ANI, the individual could conceal his or her identity and location, and
could tie up public response capacity by initiating spoofed calls
designed to cause the dispatch of responders to locations where no
emergency is at hand. Given the rapid evolution of technology, and the
consequences of spoofing ANI and pseudo-ANI, we find that the delivery
of caller identification information to E911 public safety answering
points (PSAPs), which use ANI or pseudo-ANI to look up the caller's
name and location information on emergency calls, should be considered
a type of ``information regarding the origination'' of a call.
23. The Caller ID Act NPRM sought comment on whether there are
other things that should be included in the definition, specifically,
information transmitted in the SS7 Jurisdiction Information Parameter
(JIP) code that provides information about the location of a caller who
has ported his number or is calling over a mobile service. As the
record demonstrates, use of the JIP code can benefit law enforcement
and public safety, and can be used for improved routing for
emergencies. Therefore, we clarify that ``location information''
includes information transmitted in the SS7 JIP code. However, in
encompassing information transmitted in the JIP code within our
definition, we do not require that any providers, including CMRS and
VoIP providers, populate the JIP in signaling data.
D. Caller ID Blocking
24. The Truth in Caller ID Act specifies that it is not intended to
be construed to prevent or restrict any person from blocking the
transmission of caller identification information. The legislative
history shows that Congress intended to protect and preserve
subscribers' ability to block the transmission of their own caller
identification information to called parties. Consequently, like the
proposed rules, the rules we adopt today provide that a person or
entity that blocks or seeks to block a caller identification service
from transmitting or displaying that person or entity's own caller
identification information shall not be liable for violating our rules
implementing the Truth in Caller ID Act.
25. Although our rules generally allow callers to block caller ID,
as discussed in the Caller ID Act NPRM, telemarketers are required to
transmit caller identification information, and the phone number they
transmit must be one that a person can call to request placement on a
company-specific do-not-call list. This requirement allows consumers to
more easily identify incoming telemarketing calls and to make informed
decisions about whether to answer particular calls. It also facilitates
consumers' ability to request placement on company-specific do-not-call
lists. Additionally, the requirement assists law enforcement
investigations into telemarketing complaints. Therefore, our rules make
clear that persons or entities engaged in telemarketing remain
obligated to transmit caller identification information.
E. Third-Party Spoofing Services
26. As discussed above, one of the reasons that it is easy for
anyone to spoof their caller ID is that third-party caller ID spoofing
services are widely available and inexpensive. There are typically four
steps to the process of using a third-party caller ID spoofing service
to spoof a call. First, the customer places a call to a company-
controlled toll free or POTS line number. Second, after the first call
is connected, the customer enters a personal identification number and
then enters the number he or she wants to substitute as the caller ID
that is transmitted to the called party. Third, the customer enters the
phone number he or she wants to call; and fourth, the spoofing
provider--or the carrier it uses--delivers the call to the terminating
carrier serving the called number with the requested substitute number
transmitted as the caller's CPN.
27. Recognizing the role spoofing providers play in facilitating
caller ID spoofing, the Commission sought comment on whether the
Commission may, and should, adopt rules imposing obligations on
providers of caller ID spoofing services when they are not themselves
acting with intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain
anything of value. More specifically, the Commission also sought
comment on whether it should impose record-keeping requirements on
caller ID spoofing providers. In addition, the Commission sought
comment on a proposal made by DOJ, and supported by the Minnesota
Attorney General, to adopt rules requiring ``public providers of caller
ID spoofing services to make a good-faith effort to verify that a user
has the authority to use the substituted number, such as by placing a
one-time verification call to that number.''
28. Although Itellas and Teltech, the two third-party caller ID
spoofing services that commented on the Caller ID Act NPRM, indicate
that they do maintain records of the calls they facilitate and that
they cooperate with law enforcement investigations, there is little
support among the commenters for the adoption of rules requiring third-
party spoofing providers to maintain records. The third-party spoofing
providers strongly object to any rule requiring them to verify that
their customers have a right to use the phone number they choose to
spoof. Itellas and TelTech both argue that requiring users of caller ID
services to verify that they have authority to use the spoofed number
would be pointless and ineffective, because people or entities using
caller ID spoofing to carry out a criminal enterprise can purchase the
software to spoof caller ID rather than use a third-party provider.
They also argue that verification cannot establish a caller's intent,
and absent malintent there can be no violation of the Truth in Caller
ID Act. As TelTech explains, ``[u]sing a number you do not have
permission to spoof is not illegal under the Act.'' In its reply
comments, NNEDV agrees that verification requirements would be
inconsistent with the intent expressed in the legislative history of
the Act, which recognized the importance of caller ID spoofing to
protect victims of domestic violence. According to NNEDV, a
verification requirement ``would endanger victims and `domestic
violence shelters that provide false caller ID number (sic) to prevent
call recipients from discovering the location of victims.''' Although
NNEDV objects to DOJ's proposal that the Commission impose verification
requirements on caller ID spoofing services, it does propose that the
Commission require spoofing services to give prominent notice that use
of their services in violation of the Truth in Caller ID Act is
unlawful.
29. We are very concerned about the harmful effects of caller ID
spoofing done with malicious intent. We also recognize that requiring
caller ID spoofing services to verify that users have the authority to
use the substitute number would likely reduce the use of
[[Page 43201]]
caller ID spoofing to further criminal schemes, and could simplify law
enforcement efforts to determine who is behind a caller ID spoofing
scheme. Likewise, the public would benefit from having third-party
caller ID spoofing providers clearly and conspicuously notify their
users about the practices prohibited by the Truth in Caller ID Act.
However, we are not convinced that it is appropriate for the Commission
to impose such obligations on third-party caller ID spoofing service
providers at this time. In crafting the Truth in Caller ID Act, we
believe that Congress intended to balance carefully the drawbacks of
malicious caller ID spoofing against the benefits provided by
legitimate caller ID spoofing. The Act prohibits spoofing providers,
like all other persons and entities in the United States, from
knowingly spoofing caller ID with malicious intent. However, the Act
does not expressly impose additional obligations on providers of caller
ID spoofing services. Following Congress' lead, we decline to impose
additional obligations on third-party spoofing providers at this time.
30. We are cognizant of the fact that spoofing providers can, and
sometimes do, detect and prevent some types of illegitimate
manipulation of caller ID spoofing. Itellas, for example, noted in its
comments that its system does not allow customers to call or display
911, in order to prevent use of its service for swatting. Itellas'
system also prevents its customers from using a specific spoofed number
when placing calls to toll free numbers in order to prevent users from
using the phone number associated with a stolen credit card or with a
specific bank account to activate the credit card, or to transfer money
from the compromised bank account. In its comments, TelTech represents
that it has closed accounts that it has identified as appearing to be
used to commit crimes, including money transfer fraud, activation of
stolen credit cards, or identity theft. However, spoofing services do
not necessarily know the intent with which their customers place
spoofed calls. Once the Commission's rules are in force, we will have
the opportunity to determine whether the current rules are sufficient
to deter malicious caller ID spoofing. If they are not, we can revisit
the issue. In the meantime, we raise the issue of liability for third-
party providers in the report the Act requires the Commission to submit
to Congress.
31. We want to make clear that our decision not to impose
additional obligations on third-party caller ID spoofers in no way
immunizes them from the obligation to comply with the Act. Where a
caller ID spoofing service causes, directly or indirectly, the
transmission or display of false or misleading caller ID information
with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything
of value, such service will be in violation of the Truth in Caller ID
Act and our rules. Our conclusion follows from a natural reading of the
statute, which applies to any ``person'' who causes caller ID services
to transmit misleading or inaccurate caller ID information. Likewise,
although we do not decide the matter here, liability questions would
arise if the totality of the circumstances demonstrated that a third-
party spoofing provider had promoted its services to others as a means
to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value.
32. Caller ID Unmasking. As mentioned in the Caller ID Act NPRM,
some entities--often the same ones that offer spoofing services--also
offer the ability to unmask a blocked number, effectively stripping out
the privacy indicator chosen by the calling party. We remain deeply
concerned about these unmasking services, which circumvent the privacy
protections afforded by the Commission's CPN rules. The record reflects
concern regarding these services as well. However, the record is not
sufficiently robust to support amendments to our rules at this time.
The Commission will consider whether to take further rulemaking action
to address these services in the future. In the meantime, we take this
opportunity to remind carriers of their obligations to honor callers'
privacy requests.
F. Amendments to the Commission's Enforcement Rules
33. The Act provides for additional forfeiture penalties for
violations of subsection 227(e) of the Communications Act, and new
procedures for imposing and recovering such penalties. In order to
fully implement the Truth in Caller ID Act, the Commission proposed
amendments to its forfeiture rule, 47 CFR 1.80. The proposed amendments
specified the forfeiture penalties the Commission proposed to assess
for violations of the Truth in Caller ID Act, and proposed procedures
for imposing penalties and recovering such penalties. The Commission
also proposed some minor revisions to our forfeiture rules to address
issues not directly related to the Truth in Caller ID Act. For the
reasons discussed below, we now adopt the proposed amendments to our
forfeiture rules, with some minor modifications.
34. Amount of Penalties. The Act specifies that the penalty for a
violation of the Act ``shall not exceed $10,000 for each violation, or
3 times that amount for each day of a continuing violation, except that
the amount assessed for any continuing violation shall not exceed a
total of $1,000,000 for any single act or failure to act.'' These
forfeitures are in addition to penalties provided for elsewhere in the
Communications Act. Therefore, to implement these provisions of the
Truth in Caller ID Act, we adopt the Commission's proposal to amend
section 1.80(b) of our rules to include a provision specifying the
maximum amount of additional fines that can be assessed for violations
of the Truth in Caller ID Act. In the interest of consistency and
clarity, we also amend the text and chart in Section III of what is now
the ``Note to Paragraph (b)(5)'' to include information about the
maximum additional forfeitures provided for by the Truth in Caller ID
Act.
35. The Truth in Caller ID Act establishes the maximum amount of
additional forfeiture penalties the Commission can assess for a
violation of the Act, but it does not specify how the Commission should
determine the forfeiture amount in any particular situation. In order
to provide guidance about the factors the Commission will use in
determining the amount of penalty it will assess for violations of the
Truth in Caller ID Act, we adopt the Commission's proposal to employ
the balancing factors the Commission typically considers when
determining the amount of a forfeiture penalty. Those factors are set
out in section 503(b)(2)(E) of the Communications Act and Sec.
1.80(b)(4) of the Commission's rules. The balancing factors include
``the nature, circumstances, extent, and gravity of the violation, and,
with respect to the violator, the degree of culpability, any history of
prior offenses, ability to pay, and such other matters as justice may
require.'' These factors allow the Commission to properly consider the
specific facts of each case when determining an appropriate forfeiture
penalty.
36. Procedure for Determining Penalties. With respect to the
procedure for determining or imposing a penalty, the Act provides that
``[a]ny person that is determined by the Commission, in accordance with
paragraphs (3) and (4) of section 503(b) [of the Communications Act],
to have violated this subsection shall be liable to the United States
for a forfeiture penalty.'' It also states that ``[n]o forfeiture
penalty shall be determined under clause (i) against any person unless
such person
[[Page 43202]]
receives the notice required by section 503(b)(3) or section 503(b)(4)
[of the Communications Act].'' As the Commission indicated in the
Caller ID Act NPRM, taken together, sections 503(b)(3) and 503(b)(4)
allow the Commission to impose a forfeiture penalty against a person
through either a hearing or a written notice of apparent liability
(NAL), subject to certain procedures. The Truth in Caller ID Act makes
no reference to section 503(b)(5) of the Communications Act, which
states that the Commission may not assess a forfeiture under any
provision of section 503(b) against any person, who: (i) ``Does not
hold a license, permit, certificate, or other authorization issued by
the Commission''; (ii) ``is not an applicant for a license, permit,
certificate, or other authorization issued by the Commission''; or
(iii) is not ``engaging in activities for which a license, permit,
certificate, or other authorization is required,'' unless the
Commission first issues a citation to such person in accordance with
certain procedures. As the Commission explained in the Caller ID Act
NPRM, that omission suggests that Congress intended to give the
Commission the authority to proceed expeditiously to stop and, where
appropriate, assess a forfeiture penalty against, any person or entity
engaged in prohibited caller ID spoofing without first issuing a
citation. Having received no comments disagreeing with the Commission's
proposed approach, we find that it is appropriate and consistent with
Congressional intent to adopt rules that allow the Commission to
determine or impose a forfeiture penalty for a violation of section
227(e) against ``any person,'' regardless of whether that person holds
a license, permit, certificate, or other authorization issued by the
Commission; is an applicant for any of the identified
instrumentalities; or is engaged in activities for which one of the
instrumentalities is required.
37. We also adopt rules that amend Sec. 1.80(a) of our rules to
add a new subsection (4) providing that forfeiture penalties may be
assessed against any person found to have ``violated any provision of
section 227(e) of the Communications Act or of the rules issued by the
Commission under section 227(e) of that Act.'' In contrast to section
503(b)(1)(B) of the Communications Act, which provides for a forfeiture
penalty against anyone who has ``willfully or repeatedly'' failed to
comply with any provisions of the Communications Act, or any
regulations issued by the Commission under the Act, the Truth in Caller
ID Act does not require ``willful'' or ``repeated'' violations to
justify imposition of a penalty. Therefore, we adopt new Sec.
1.80(a)(4), in accordance with Congressional direction that the
Commission have authority to assess a forfeiture penalty for all
violations of section 227(e) or of the rules issued by the Commission
under that section of the Act.
38. Statute of Limitations. The Truth in Caller ID Act specifies
that ``[n]o forfeiture penalty shall be determined or imposed against
any person under [section 227(e)(5)(i)] if the violation charged
occurred more than 2 years prior to the date of issuance of the
required notice or notice of apparent liability.'' We note that this
differs from the more general limitations provision of section
503(b)(6) of the Communications Act, which provides for a one-year
statute of limitations in most cases. Given the explicit language of
the Truth in Caller ID Act, however, we find that the longer two-year
statute of limitations applies to enforcement of the Truth in Caller ID
Act.
39. Miscellaneous. We also take this opportunity to revise the
undesignated paragraph in Sec. 1.80(a) to address issues not directly
related to implementation of the Truth in Caller ID Act and to
redesignate that undesignated text as ``Note to paragraph 1.80(a).''
First, with respect to the proposed revisions, in order to ensure that
the language in the rule encompasses the language used in all of the
statutory provisions, we amend the rule to specify that the forfeiture
amounts set forth in Sec. 1.80(b) are inapplicable ``to conduct which
is subject to a forfeiture penalty or fine'' under the various
statutory provisions listed. (Emphasis added.) Second, we amend the
rule to change the references to sections 362(a) and 362(b) to sections
364(a) and 364(b) respectively, in order that the statutory provision
references match those used in the Communications Act, rather than the
sections of the U.S. Code. Third, we delete section 503(b) from the
list of statutory provisions to which the forfeiture amounts in Sec.
1.80(b) do not apply, because the inclusion was in error; Sec. 1.80(b)
implements the forfeiture amounts of section 503(b), and so the
penalties set forth in Sec. 1.80(b) apply to forfeiture under section
503(b).
Procedural Issues
A. Paperwork Reduction Act
40. This document does not contain new or modified information
collection requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(PRA), Public Law 104-13. In addition, therefore, it does not contain
any new or modified information collection burdens for small business
concerns with fewer than 25 employees, pursuant to the Small Business
Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, Public Law 107-198, see 44 U.S.C.
3506(c)(4).
B. Congressional Review Act
41. The Commission will send a copy of this Report and Order in a
report to be sent to Congress and the Government Accountability Office
pursuant to the Congressional Review Act, see 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A).
C. Final Regulatory Flexibility Certification
42. The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended (RFA)
requires that a regulatory flexibility analysis be prepared for
rulemaking proceedings, unless the agency certifies that ``the rule
will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of
small entities.'' The RFA generally defines ``small entity'' as having
the same meaning as the terms ``small business,'' ``small
organization,'' and ``small governmental jurisdiction.'' In addition,
the term ``small business'' has the same meaning as the term ``small
business concern'' under the Small Business Act. A small business
concern is one which: (1) Is independently owned and operated; (2) is
not dominant in its field of operation; and (3) satisfies any
additional criteria established by the Small Business Administration
(SBA).
43. In this Report and Order, the Commission adopts rules
implementing the Truth in Caller ID Act. The Truth in Caller ID Act and
the implementing rules we adopt today prohibit any person or entity in
the United States from knowingly altering or manipulating caller
identification information with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or
wrongfully obtain anything of value. The Caller ID Act NPRM sought
comment on benefits and burdens that would be imposed on small entities
by the proposed rules and sought comment on an initial regulatory
flexibility analysis (IRFA). No commenters sought to argue that the
proposed rules would have a significant impact on a substantial number
of small entities. Indeed, no commenters raised any concerns about the
impact of the proposed rules on small entities, as such.
44. The NPRM also sought comment on whether the Commission may, and
should, adopt rules imposing obligations on providers of caller ID
spoofing services when they are not themselves acting with intent to
defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value. It also
sought
[[Page 43203]]
comment more specifically on whether the Commission should impose
record-keeping requirements on caller ID spoofing providers, as well as
on a proposal made by DOJ and supported by the Minnesota Attorney
General to adopt rules requiring ``public providers of caller ID
spoofing services to make a good-faith effort to verify that a user has
the authority to use the substituted number, such as by placing a one-
time verification call to that number. In this Order, we decline to
impose any additional obligations on providers of caller ID spoofing
services at this time. Therefore, to the extent that such requirements
would have had an economic impact on some small entities, that impact
will not occur. Indeed, the record contains nothing showing that the
cost of compliance obligations would be economically significant or
would affect a substantial number of small entities. Indeed, based on
the record before us, we are persuaded that a substantial number of
small businesses do not engage in caller ID spoofing with the intent to
defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value, and those
that do are already prohibited from doing so by the Truth in Caller ID
Act. Therefore, we certify that the requirements of this Report and
Order will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities. The Commission will send a copy of the Report
and Order including a copy of this final certification, in a report to
Congress pursuant to the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness
Act of 1996. See 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A). In addition, the Report and
Order and this certification will be sent to the Chief Counsel for
Advocacy of the Small Business Administration, and will be published in
the Federal Register. See 5 U.S.C. 605(b).
Ordering Clauses
45. Accordingly, it is ordered that, pursuant to section 2 of the
Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009, Public Law 11-331, and sections 1,
4(i), 4(j), 227, and 303(r) of the Communications Act of 1934, as
amended, 47 U.S.C. 151, 154(i), 154(j), 227 and 303(r), this Report and
Order, with all attachments, is adopted.
46. It is further ordered that parts 1 and 64 of the Commission's
rules are amended.
47. It is further ordered that pursuant to Sec. Sec. 1.4(b)(1) and
1.103(a) of the Commission's rules, 47 CFR 1.4(b)(1), 1.103(a), this
Report and order shall be effective 30 days after publication of a
summary in the Federal Register.
48. It is further ordered that the Commission's Consumer and
Governmental Affairs Bureau, Reference Information Center, shall send a
copy of this Report and Order, including the Final Regulatory
Flexibility Certification, to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the
Small Business Administration.
List of Subjects
47 CFR Part 1
Penalties.
47 CFR Part 64
Communications common carriers, Caller identification information,
Telecommunications, Telegraph, Telephone.
Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary.
Final Rules
For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Federal
Communications Commission amends 47 CFR parts 1 and 64 as follows:
PART 1--PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE
0
1. The authority citation for part 1 is revised to read as follows:
Authority: 15 U.S.C. 79 et seq.; 47 U.S.C. 151, 154(i), 154(j),
155, 157, 225, 227, 303(r), and 309.
0
2. Amend Sec. 1.80 as follows:
0
a. Revise paragraph (a)(3)
0
b. Designate the undesignated paragraph following (a)(4) as ``Note to
Paragraph (a)'' and revise it;
0
c. Redesignate paragraphs (a)(4), (b)(3), (b)(4), (b)(5), and (c)(3),
as paragraphs (a)(5), (b)(4), (b)(5), (b)(6), and (c)(4), respectively;
0
d. Redesignate ``Note to Paragraph (b)(4)'' as ``Note to paragraph
(b)(5)'' and revise it;
0
e. Add new paragraphs (a)(4), (b)(3), and (c)(3);
0
f. Revise redesignated paragraph (b)(4); and
0
g. Revise paragraph (d).
Sec. 1.80 Forfeiture proceedings.
(a) * * *
(3) Violated any provision of section 317(c) or 508(a) of the
Communications Act;
(4) Violated any provision of section 227(e) of the Communications
Act or of the rules issued by the Commission under section 227(e) of
that Act; or
* * * * *
Note to paragraph (a): A forfeiture penalty assessed under this
section is in addition to any other penalty provided for by the
Communications Act, except that the penalties provided for in
paragraphs (b)(1) through (4) of this section shall not apply to
conduct which is subject to a forfeiture penalty or fine under
sections 202(c), 203(e), 205(b), 214(d), 219(b), 220(d), 223(b),
364(a), 364(b), 386(a), 386(b), 506, and 634 of the Communications
Act. The remaining provisions of this section are applicable to such
conduct.
(b) * * *
(3) Any person determined to have violated section 227(e) of the
Communications Act or the rules issued by the Commission under section
227(e) of the Communications Act shall be liable to the United States
for a forfeiture penalty of not more than $10,000 for each violation or
three times that amount for each day of a continuing violation, except
that the amount assessed for any continuing violation shall not exceed
a total of $1,000,000 for any single act or failure to act. Such
penalty shall be in addition to any other forfeiture penalty provided
for by the Communications Act.
(4) In any case not covered by paragraphs (b)(1), (b)(2) or (b)(3)
of this section, the amount of any forfeiture penalty determined under
this section shall not exceed $16,000 for each violation or each day of
a continuing violation, except that the amount assessed for any
continuing violation shall not exceed a total of $112,500 for any
single act or failure to act described in paragraph (a) of this
section.
* * * * *
Note to paragraph (b)(5): Guidelines for Assessing Forfeitures.
The Commission and its staff may use these guidelines in particular
cases. The Commission and its staff retain the discretion to issue a
higher or lower forfeiture than provided in the guidelines, to issue
no forfeiture at all, or to apply alternative or additional
sanctions as permitted by the statute. The forfeiture ceilings per
violation or per day for a continuing violation stated in section
503 of the Communications Act and the Commission's rules are
described in Sec. 1.80(b)(5)(iii). These statutory maxima became
effective September 2, 2008. Forfeitures issued under other sections
of the Act are dealt with separately in section III of this note.
Section I. Base Amounts for Section 503 Forfeitures
[[Page 43204]]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Violation
Forfeitures amount
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Misrepresentation/lack of candor........................ (\1\)
Construction and/or operation without an instrument of $10,000
authorization for the service..........................
Failure to comply with prescribed lighting and/or 10,000
marking................................................
Violation of public file rules.......................... 10,000
Violation of political rules: reasonable access, lowest 9,000
unit charge, equal opportunity, and discrimination.....
Unauthorized substantial transfer of control............ 8,000
Violation of children's television commercialization or 8,000
programming requirements...............................
Violations of rules relating to distress and safety 8,000
frequencies............................................
False distress communications........................... 8,000
EAS equipment not installed or operational.............. 8,000
Alien ownership violation............................... 8,000
Failure to permit inspection............................ 7,000
Transmission of indecent/obscene materials.............. 7,000
Interference............................................ 7,000
Importation or marketing of unauthorized equipment...... 7,000
Exceeding of authorized antenna height.................. 5,000
Fraud by wire, radio or television...................... 5,000
Unauthorized discontinuance of service.................. 5,000
Use of unauthorized equipment........................... 5,000
Exceeding power limits.................................. 4,000
Failure to respond to Commission communications......... 4,000
Violation of sponsorship ID requirements................ 4,000
Unauthorized emissions.................................. 4,000
Using unauthorized frequency............................ 4,000
Failure to engage in required frequency coordination.... 4,000
Construction or operation at unauthorized location...... 4,000
Violation of requirements pertaining to broadcasting of 4,000
lotteries or contests..................................
Violation of transmitter control and metering 3,000
requirements...........................................
Failure to file required forms or information........... 3,000
Failure to make required measurements or conduct 2,000
required monitoring....................................
Failure to provide station ID........................... 1,000
Unauthorized pro forma transfer of control.............. 1,000
Failure to maintain required records.................... 1,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Statutory Maximum for each Service.
Violations Unique to the Service
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Violation Services affected Amount
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unauthorized conversion of Common Carrier............ $40,000
long distance telephone
service.
Violation of operator Common Carrier............ 7,000
services requirements.
Violation of pay-per-call Common Carrier............ 7,000
requirements.
Failure to implement rate Cable..................... 7,500
reduction or refund order.
Violation of cable program Cable..................... 7,500
access rules.
Violation of cable leased Cable..................... 7,500
access rules.
Violation of cable cross- Cable..................... 7,500
ownership rules.
Violation of cable broadcast Cable..................... 7,500
carriage rules.
Violation of pole attachment Cable..................... 7,500
rules.
Failure to maintain Broadcast................. 7,000
directional pattern within
prescribed parameters.
Violation of main studio Broadcast................. 7,000
rule.
Violation of broadcast hoax Broadcast................. 7,000
rule.
AM tower fencing............ Broadcast................. 7,000
Broadcasting telephone Broadcast................. 4,000
conversations without
authorization.
Violation of enhanced Broadcast................. 2,000
underwriting requirements.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section II. Adjustment Criteria for Section 503 Forfeitures
Upward Adjustment Criteria
(1) Egregious misconduct.
(2) Ability to pay/relative disincentive.
(3) Intentional violation.
(4) Substantial harm.
(5) Prior violations of any FCC requirements.
(6) Substantial economic gain.
(7) Repeated or continuous violation.
Downward Adjustment Criteria
(1) Minor violation.
(2) Good faith or voluntary disclosure.
(3) History of overall compliance.
(4) Inability to pay.
Section III. Non-Section 503 Forfeitures That Are Affected by the
Downward Adjustment Factors
Unlike section 503 of the Act, which establishes maximum forfeiture
amounts, other sections of the Act, with two exceptions, state
prescribed amounts of forfeitures for violations of the relevant
section. These amounts are then subject to mitigation or remission
under section 504 of the Act. One exception is section 223 of the Act,
which provides a maximum forfeiture per day. For convenience, the
Commission will treat this amount as if it were a prescribed base
amount, subject to downward adjustments. The other exception is section
227(e) of the Act, which provides maximum forfeitures per violation,
and for
[[Page 43205]]
continuing violations. The Commission will apply the factors set forth
in section 503(b)(2)(E) of the Act and section III of this note to
determine the amount of the penalty to assess in any particular
situation. The following amounts are adjusted for inflation pursuant to
the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 (DCIA), 28 U.S.C. 2461.
These non-section 503 forfeitures may be adjusted downward using the
``Downward Adjustment Criteria'' shown for section 503 forfeitures in
section II of this note.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Violation Statutory amount ($)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sec. 202(c) Common Carrier 9,600, 530/day.
Discrimination.
Sec. 203(e) Common Carrier Tariffs..... 9,600, 530/day.
Sec. 205(b) Common Carrier 18,200.
Prescriptions.
Sec. 214(d) Common Carrier Line 1,320/day.
Extensions.
Sec. 219(b) Common Carrier Reports..... 1,320.
Sec. 220(d) Common Carrier Records & 9,600/day.
Accounts.
Sec. 223(b) Dial-a-Porn................ 75,000/day.
Sec. 227(e)............................ 10,000/violation.
30,000/day for each day of
continuing violation, up to 1
million for any single act or
failure to act.
Sec. 364(a) Forfeitures (Ships)........ 7,500 (owner).
Sec. 364(b) Forfeitures (Ships)........ 1,100 (vessel master).
Sec. 386(a) Forfeitures (Ships)........ 7,500/day (owner).
Sec. 386(b) Forfeitures (Ships)........ 1,100 (vessel master).
Sec. 634 Cable EEO..................... 650/day.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * * *
(c) * * *
(3) In the case of a forfeiture imposed under section 227(e), no
forfeiture will be imposed if the violation occurred more than 2 years
prior to the date on which the appropriate notice is issued.
* * * * *
(d) Preliminary procedure in some cases; citations. Except for a
forfeiture imposed under subsection 227(e)(5) of the Act, no forfeiture
penalty shall be imposed upon any person under this section of the Act
if such person does not hold a license, permit, certificate, or other
authorization issued by the Commission, and if such person is not an
applicant for a license, permit, certificate, or other authorization
issued by the Commission, unless, prior to the issuance of the
appropriate notice, such person:
(1) Is sent a citation reciting the violation charged;
(2) Is given a reasonable opportunity (usually 30 days) to request
a personal interview with a Commission official, at the field office
which is nearest to such person's place of residence; and
(3) Subsequently engages in conduct of the type described in the
citation. However, a forfeiture penalty may be imposed, if such person
is engaged in (and the violation relates to) activities for which a
license, permit, certificate, or other authorization is required or if
such person is a cable television operator, or in the case of
violations of section 303(q), if the person involved is a nonlicensee
tower owner who has previously received notice of the obligations
imposed by section 303(q) from the Commission or the permittee or
licensee who uses that tower. Paragraph (c) of this section does not
limit the issuance of citations. When the requirements of this
paragraph have been satisfied with respect to a particular violation by
a particular person, a forfeiture penalty may be imposed upon such
person for conduct of the type described in the citation without
issuance of an additional citation.
* * * * *
PART 64--MISCELLANEOUS RULES RELATING TO COMMON CARRIERS
0
3. The authority citation for part 64 is revised to read as follows:
Authority: 47 U.S.C. 154, 254(k), 227; secs. 403(b)(2)(B), (c),
Pub. L. 104-104, 100 Stat. 56. Interpret or apply 47 U.S.C. 201,
218, 222, 225, 226, 207, 228, and 254(k) unless otherwise noted.
0
4. Section 64.1600 is amended by redesignating paragraphs (c), (d),
(e), and (f) as paragraphs (e), (f), (i), and (j) respectively and by
adding new paragraphs (c), (d), (g), and (h) to read as follows:
Sec. 64.1600 Definitions.
* * * * *
(c) Caller identification information. The term ``caller
identification information'' means information provided by a caller
identification service regarding the telephone number of, or other
information regarding the origination of, a call made using a
telecommunications service or interconnected VoIP service.
(d) Caller identification service. The term ``caller identification
service'' means any service or device designed to provide the user of
the service or device with the telephone number of, or other
information regarding the origination of, a call made using a
telecommunications service or interconnected VoIP service.
* * * * *
(g) Information regarding the o