ROBOCOP Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1212 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to expand and clarify the prohibi- tion on inaccurate caller identification information and to require pro- viders of telephone service to offer technology to subscribers to reduce the incidence of unwanted telephone calls and text messages, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 11, 2019 Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. SCHUMER, Ms. BALDWIN, and Mr. MERKLEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to expand and clarify the prohibition on inaccurate caller identification information and to require providers of telephone service to offer technology to subscribers to reduce the incidence of unwanted telephone calls and text messages, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1212.IS S1212 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1212 IS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Repeated Objectionable 2 Bothering of Consumers on Phones Act’’ or the 3 ‘‘ROBOCOP Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 5 Congress finds the following: 6 (1) The incidence of unwanted telephone calls 7 and text messages is a nationwide nuisance. 8 (2) The Federal Trade Commission received 9 more than— 10 (A) 5,300,000 complaints about unwanted 11 telephone calls in fiscal year 2016; and 12 (B) 7,000,000 such complaints in fiscal 13 year 2017. 14 (3) Telephone scammers target vulnerable con- 15 sumers, particularly the elderly. 16 (4) The national ‘‘do-not-call’’ registry has ef- 17 fectively addressed unwanted telephone calls from le- 18 gitimate companies, but consumers continue to be 19 subject to unwanted calls originating from sources 20 outside the United States and illegitimate operators. 21 (5) Telemarketing fraud cost consumers an es- 22 timated $350,000,000 in 2011. 23 (6) Existing Federal law is inadequate to ad- 24 dress this problem. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1212.IS S1212 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1212 IS (7) Preventing unwanted telephone calls and 1 text messages from reaching consumers requires 2 2 approaches: 3 (A) Identifying unwanted calls and text 4 messages. 5 (B) Giving the consumers the ability to 6 block or filter unwanted calls and text mes- 7 sages. 8 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 9 In this Act: 10 (1) CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION; 11 TEXT MESSAGE.—The terms ‘‘caller identification 12 information’’ and ‘‘text message’’ have the meanings 13 given those terms in section 227(a) of the Commu- 14 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(a)), as amend- 15 ed by this Act. 16 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 17 means the Federal Communications Commission. 18 SEC. 4. EXPANDING AND CLARIFYING PROHIBITION ON IN- 19 ACCURATE CALLER ID INFORMATION. 20 (a) TEXT MESSAGING SERVICE.—Section 227 of the 21 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227), as amend- 22 ed by section 503(a) of division P of the Consolidated Ap- 23 propriations Act, 2018 (Public Law 115–141), is amend- 24 ed— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1212.IS S1212 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1212 IS (1) in subsection (a)— 1 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), 2 (4), and (5) as paragraphs (4), (5), (6), and 3 (9), respectively; 4 (B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 5 following: 6 ‘‘(2) The term ‘caller identification information’ 7 means information provided by a caller identification 8 service regarding the telephone number of, or other 9 information regarding the origination of— 10 ‘‘(A) a call made using a voice service; or 11 ‘‘(B) a text message sent using a text mes- 12 saging service. 13 ‘‘(3) The term ‘caller identification service’— 14 ‘‘(A) means any service or device designed 15 to provide the user of the service or device with 16 the telephone number of, or other information 17 regarding the origination of— 18 ‘‘(i) a call made using a voice service; 19 or 20 ‘‘(ii) a text message sent using a text 21 messaging service; and 22 ‘‘(B) includes automatic number identifica- 23 tion services.’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1212.IS S1212 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1212 IS (C) by inserting after paragraph (6), as so 1 redesignated, the following: 2 ‘‘(7) The term ‘text message’— 3 ‘‘(A) means a real-time or near real-time 4 digital message consisting of text, images, 5 sounds, or other information that is transmitted 6 from or received by a device that is identified 7 as the transmitting or receiving device by 8 means of a telephone number; 9 ‘‘(B) includes— 10 ‘‘(i) a short message service (com- 11 monly referred to as ‘SMS’) message; 12 ‘‘(ii) an enhanced message service 13 (commonly referred to as ‘EMS’) message; 14 and 15 ‘‘(iii) a multimedia message service 16 (commonly referred to as ‘MMS’) message; 17 and 18 ‘‘(C) does not include a real-time, 2-way 19 voice or video communication. 20 ‘‘(8) The term ‘text messaging service’ means a 21 service that permits the transmission or receipt of a 22 text message, including a service provided as part of 23 or in connection with a telecommunications service 24 or an IP-enabled voice service.’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1212.IS S1212 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1212 IS (D) by adding at the end the following: 1 ‘‘(10) The term ‘voice service’— 2 ‘‘(A) means any service that— 3 ‘‘(i) is interconnected with the public 4 switched telephone network; and 5 ‘‘(ii) furnishes voice communications 6 to an end user using resources from the 7 North American Numbering Plan or any 8 successor to the North American Num- 9 bering Plan adopted by the Commission 10 under section 251(e)(1); and 11 ‘‘(B) includes transmissions from a tele- 12 phone facsimile machine, computer, or other de- 13 vice to a telephone facsimile machine.’’; and 14 (2) in subsection (e)— 15 (A) by striking paragraph (8); and 16 (B) by redesignating paragraph (9) as 17 paragraph (8). 18 (b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 18 months after 19 the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall 20 prescribe regulations to implement the amendments made 21 by this section. 22 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 23 this section shall take effect on the date that is 180 days 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1212.IS S1212 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1212 IS after the date on which the Commission prescribes regula- 1 tions under subsection (b). 2 SEC. 5. TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 227(d) of the Commu- 4 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(d)) is amended by 5 adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(4) TECHNOLOGY OFFERED BY PROVIDERS.— 7 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 8 ‘‘(i) ORIGINATING PROVIDER.—The 9 term ‘originating provider’ means a pro- 10 vider of a voice service or text messaging 11 service that permits a subscriber to origi- 12 nate a call or text message that may be 13 transmitted on the public switched tele- 14 phone network. 15 ‘‘(ii) RECEIVING PROVIDER.—The 16 term ‘receiving provider’ means a provider 17 of a voice service or text messaging service 18 that permits a subscriber to receive a call 19 or text message originating, or that may be 20 transmitted, on the public switched tele- 21 phone network. 22 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS TO OFFER TECH- 23 NOLOGY.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1212.IS S1212 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1212 IS ‘‘(i) ORIGINATING PROVIDERS.—The 1 Commission shall by regulation establish 2 technical and procedural standards to re- 3 quire an originating provider to enable, for 4 each subscriber of the provider and for no 5 additional charge, technology that verifies, 6 for any call or text message originated by 7 the subscriber, that the caller identification 8 information indicated for the call or text 9 message accurately identifies the sub- 10 scriber unless— 11 ‘‘(I) the call or text message is 12 exempted, under regulations described 13 in clause (ii) or (iii) of subsection 14 (e)(3)(B), from the prohibition under 15 subsection (e)(1); or 16 ‘‘(II) the subscriber requests that 17 the originating provider not display 18 caller identification that accurately 19 identifies the subscriber for a call or 20 text message originated by the sub- 21 scriber, in which case the caller identi- 22 fication information shall state, ‘Call- 23 er ID Blocked’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1212.IS S1212 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1212 IS ‘‘(ii) RECEIVING PROVIDERS.—The 1 Commission shall by regulation establish 2 technical and procedural standards to re- 3 quire any receiving provider, for each sub- 4 scriber of the provider and for no addi- 5 tional charge— 6 ‘‘(I) to enable, and to offer to the 7 subscriber the option to disable, tech- 8 nology that— 9 ‘‘(aa) determines that an in- 10 coming call or text message is 11 verified by the technology enabled 12 in accordance with clause (i) as 13 providing caller identification in- 14 formation in accordance with 15 that clause, whether by— 16 ‘‘(AA) accurately iden- 17 tifying the person origi- 18 nating the call or text mes- 19 sage; 20 ‘‘(BB) lawfully pro- 21 viding misleading or inac- 22 curate caller identification; 23 or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1212.IS S1212 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1212 IS ‘‘(CC) displaying ‘Call- 1 er ID Blocked’; or 2 ‘‘(bb) if an incoming call or 3 text message is not verified as 4 described in item (aa), prevents 5 the subscriber from receiving the 6 call or text message; 7 ‘‘(II) to offer to the subscriber 8 the option to enable technology that— 9 ‘‘(aa) identifies an incoming 10 call or text message as origi- 11 nating or probably originating 12 from an automatic telephone di- 13 aling system; and 14 ‘‘(bb) prevents the sub- 15 scriber from receiving a call or 16 text message identified as de- 17 scribed in item (aa) unless— 18 ‘‘(AA) the call or text 19 message is made or sent by 20 a public safety entity, in- 21 cluding a public safety an- 22 swering point (as defined in 23 section 222(h)), emergency 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1212.IS S1212 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1212 IS operations center, or law en- 1 forcement agency; or 2 ‘‘(BB) the subscriber 3 has provided prior express 4 consent to receive the call or 5 text message and has not re- 6 voked that consent; and 7 ‘‘(III) to offer to the subscriber 8 the ability to request that the receiv- 9 ing provider prevent the subscriber 10 from receiving calls and text messages 11 originating from a particular person. 12 ‘‘(C) COMMISSION OVERSIGHT.— 13 ‘‘(i) APPEALS PROCESS RELATING TO 14 ALLEGED AUTODIALERS.—The standards 15 established under subparagraph (B)(ii)(II) 16 shall provide for an appeals process under 17 which— 18 ‘‘(I) a subscriber of an origi- 19 nating provider (referred to in this 20 clause as the ‘originating subscriber’) 21 may notify the Commission that the 22 technology offered under that sub- 23 paragraph by a receiving provider is— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1212.IS S1212 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1212 IS ‘‘(aa) incorrectly identifying 1 the calls or text messages of the 2 originating subscriber as origi- 3 nating or probably originating 4 from an automatic telephone di- 5 aling system; or 6 ‘‘(bb) preventing other sub- 7 scribers from receiving calls or 8 text messages originated by the 9 originating subscriber that are 10 permitted under item (bb) of that 11 subparagraph; 12 ‘‘(II) if the Commission finds 13 that the circumstance about which the 14 originating subscriber notified the 15 Commission exists, the Commission 16 shall take such action as is reasonably 17 necessary to correct the circumstance; 18 and 19 ‘‘(III) if the receiving provider is 20 preventing a subscriber of the receiv- 21 ing provider (referred to in this clause 22 as the ‘receiving subscriber’) from re- 23 ceiving calls or text messages origi- 24 nated by the originating subscriber 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1212.IS S1212 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 1212 IS because the receiving subscriber has 1 requested that prevention, whether di- 2 rectly or through a call-blocking serv- 3 ice, the Commission may not require 4 the receiving provider to stop pre- 5 venting the calls or text messages un- 6 less the receiving subscriber provides 7 affirmative consent. 8 ‘‘(ii) WHITELISTING.— 9 ‘‘(I) REQUEST.—A subscriber 10 that offers essential services (referred 11 to in this clause as an ‘essential serv- 12 ices subscriber’) may request that the 13 Commission require each receiving 14 provider to allow subscribers of the re- 15 ceiving provider to receive calls or text 16 messages originating from the essen- 17 tial services subscriber. 18 ‘‘(II) GRANT.—If the Commis- 19 sion, through a rigorous vetting proc- 20 ess using the unblocking system es- 21 tablished under clause (iii), confirms 22 the identity of an essential services 23 subscriber described in subclause (I) 24 of this clause, the Commission shall 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1212.IS S1212 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 14 •S 1212 IS require each receiving provider to 1 allow each subscriber of the receiving 2 provider to receive calls or text mes- 3 sages originating from the essential 4 services subscriber unless the sub- 5 scriber of the receiving provider has 6 requested under subparagraph 7 (B)(ii)(III) that the receiving provider 8 prevent the subscriber from receiving 9 calls and text messages originating 10 from that essential services sub- 11 scriber. 12 ‘‘(III) DEFINITION OF ESSEN- 13 TIAL SERVICES.—The Commission 14 shall by regulation define the t [Text truncated for display. 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