As discussed in our recent blog post, in February the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to amend its Truth in Caller ID rules.  The NPRM largely tracks recent amendments to the Truth in Caller ID Act enacted by Congress as part of RAY BAUM’s Act.  

The NPRM has now been published in the Federal Register, which triggers the comment deadlines in response to the NPRM. Comments regarding the proposed changes are due on or before April 3, while reply comments are due on or before May 3, 2019.

The current Truth in Caller ID Rules make it “unlawful for any person within the United States, in connection with any telecommunications service or IP-enabled voice service, to cause any caller identification service to knowingly transmit misleading or inaccurate caller identification information with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value.”[1]

The NPRM proposes to expand the scope of the rules to include communications originating outside the United States and to subject a wider universe of communications services to the prohibition on caller ID spoofing.  Specifically, the proposed change would expand the type of communications covered by the spoofing prohibition from “any telecommunications service or IP-enabled voice service” to “any voice service or text messaging service.”

As part of the NPRM, the FCC seeks industry comments on its proposed definition for key terms such as “text message”, “text messaging service” “voice service” “caller identification information,” and “caller identification service.”

[1]           47 U.S.C. § 227(e)(1).