ROBOCOP Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2298 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to expand and clarify the prohibi- tion on misleading or 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. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 12, 2019 Ms. SPEIER (for herself, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. COOPER, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. RYAN, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. LOFGREN, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. VISCLOSKY, Mr. COHEN, and Mr. RASKIN) introduced the following bill; which was re- ferred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to expand and clarify the prohibition on misleading or 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 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2298.IH H2298 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2298 IH 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 al- 9 most 5,800,000 complaints about unwanted tele- 10 phone calls in fiscal year 2018. 11 (3) Telephone scammers target vulnerable con- 12 sumers, particularly the elderly. 13 (4) The national ‘‘do-not-call’’ registry has ef- 14 fectively addressed unwanted telephone calls from le- 15 gitimate companies, but consumers continue to be 16 subject to unwanted calls originating from sources 17 outside the United States and illegitimate operators. 18 (5) Telemarketing fraud cost consumers an es- 19 timated $350,000,000 in 2011. 20 (6) Existing Federal law is inadequate to ad- 21 dress this problem. 22 (7) Preventing unwanted telephone calls and 23 text messages from reaching consumers requires 2 24 approaches: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:26 Apr 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2298.IH H2298 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2298 IH (A) Identifying unwanted calls and text 1 messages. 2 (B) Giving the consumers the ability to 3 block or filter unwanted calls and text mes- 4 sages. 5 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 (1) CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION; 8 TEXT MESSAGE.—The terms ‘‘caller identification 9 information’’ and ‘‘text message’’ have the meanings 10 given those terms in section 227(a) of the Commu- 11 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(a)), as amend- 12 ed by this Act. 13 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 14 means the Federal Communications Commission. 15 SEC. 4. EXPANDING AND CLARIFYING PROHIBITION ON 16 MISLEADING OR INACCURATE CALLER ID IN- 17 FORMATION. 18 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 227 of the Communica- 19 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227), as amended by section 20 503(a) of division P of the Consolidated Appropriations 21 Act, 2018 (Public Law 115–141), is amended— 22 (1) in subsection (a)— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2298.IH H2298 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2298 IH (A) by redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), 1 (4), and (5) as paragraphs (4), (5), (6), and 2 (9), respectively; 3 (B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 4 following: 5 ‘‘(2) The term ‘caller identification information’ 6 means information provided by a caller identification 7 service regarding the telephone number of, or other 8 information regarding the origination of— 9 ‘‘(A) a call made using a voice service; or 10 ‘‘(B) a text message sent using a text mes- 11 saging service. 12 ‘‘(3) The term ‘caller identification service’— 13 ‘‘(A) means any service or device designed 14 to provide the user of the service or device with 15 the telephone number of, or other information 16 regarding the origination of— 17 ‘‘(i) a call made using a voice service; 18 or 19 ‘‘(ii) a text message sent using a text 20 messaging service; and 21 ‘‘(B) includes automatic number identifica- 22 tion services.’’; 23 (C) by inserting after paragraph (6), as so 24 redesignated, the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2298.IH H2298 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 2298 IH ‘‘(7) The term ‘text message’— 1 ‘‘(A) means a real-time or near real-time 2 digital message consisting of text, images, 3 sounds, or other information that is transmitted 4 from or received by a device that is identified 5 as the transmitting or receiving device by 6 means of a telephone number; 7 ‘‘(B) includes— 8 ‘‘(i) a short message service (com- 9 monly referred to as ‘SMS’) message; 10 ‘‘(ii) an enhanced message service 11 (commonly referred to as ‘EMS’) message; 12 and 13 ‘‘(iii) a multimedia message service 14 (commonly referred to as ‘MMS’) message; 15 and 16 ‘‘(C) does not include a real-time, 2-way 17 voice or video communication. 18 ‘‘(8) The term ‘text messaging service’ means a 19 service that permits the transmission or receipt of a 20 text message, including a service provided as part of 21 or in connection with a voice service.’’; and 22 (D) by adding at the end the following: 23 ‘‘(10) The term ‘voice service’ means any serv- 24 ice that— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2298.IH H2298 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 2298 IH ‘‘(A) is interconnected with the public 1 switched telephone network; and 2 ‘‘(B) furnishes voice communications to an 3 end user using resources from the North Amer- 4 ican Numbering Plan or any successor to the 5 North American Numbering Plan adopted by 6 the Commission under section 251(e)(1).’’; and 7 (2) in subsection (e)— 8 (A) by striking paragraph (8); and 9 (B) by redesignating paragraph (9) as 10 paragraph (8). 11 (b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 18 months after 12 the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall 13 prescribe regulations to implement the amendments made 14 by this section. 15 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 16 this section shall take effect on the date that is 180 days 17 after the date on which the Commission prescribes regula- 18 tions under subsection (b). 19 SEC. 5. TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS. 20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 227(d) of the Commu- 21 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(d)) is amended by 22 adding at the end the following: 23 ‘‘(4) TECHNOLOGY OFFERED BY PROVIDERS.— 24 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2298.IH H2298 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 2298 IH ‘‘(i) ORIGINATING PROVIDER.—The 1 term ‘originating provider’ means a pro- 2 vider of a voice service or text messaging 3 service that permits a subscriber to origi- 4 nate a call or text message that may be 5 transmitted on the public switched tele- 6 phone network. 7 ‘‘(ii) ORIGINATING SUBSCRIBER.—The 8 term ‘originating subscriber’ means a sub- 9 scriber to a voice service or text messaging 10 service that originates a call or text mes- 11 sage that may be transmitted on the public 12 switched telephone network. 13 ‘‘(iii) RECEIVING PROVIDER.—The 14 term ‘receiving provider’ means a provider 15 of a voice service or text messaging service 16 that permits a subscriber to receive a call 17 or text message originating, or that may be 18 transmitted, on the public switched tele- 19 phone network. 20 ‘‘(iv) RECEIVING SUBSCRIBER.—The 21 term ‘receiving subscriber’ means a sub- 22 scriber to a voice service or text messaging 23 service that receives, or is the intended re- 24 cipient of, a call or text message origi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2298.IH H2298 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 2298 IH nating, or that may be transmitted, on the 1 public switched telephone network. 2 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS TO OFFER TECH- 3 NOLOGY.— 4 ‘‘(i) ORIGINATING PROVIDERS.—The 5 Commission shall by regulation establish 6 technical and procedural standards to re- 7 quire an originating provider to enable, for 8 each originating subscriber of the provider 9 and for no additional charge, and to re- 10 quire the originating subscriber to use, 11 technology that verifies, for any call or text 12 message originated by the originating sub- 13 scriber, that the caller identification infor- 14 mation indicated for the call or text mes- 15 sage accurately identifies the originating 16 subscriber unless— 17 ‘‘(I) the call or text message is 18 exempted, under regulations described 19 in clause (ii) or (iii) of subsection 20 (e)(3)(B), from the prohibition under 21 subsection (e)(1); or 22 ‘‘(II) the originating subscriber 23 requests that the originating provider 24 not display caller identification that 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2298.IH H2298 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 2298 IH accurately identifies the originating 1 subscriber for a call or text message 2 originated by the originating sub- 3 scriber, in which case the caller identi- 4 fication information shall state, ‘Call- 5 er ID Blocked’. 6 ‘‘(ii) RECEIVING PROVIDERS.—The 7 Commission shall by regulation establish 8 technical and procedural standards to re- 9 quire any receiving provider, for each re- 10 ceiving subscriber of the provider and for 11 no additional charge— 12 ‘‘(I) to enable, and to offer to the 13 receiving subscriber the option to dis- 14 able, technology that— 15 ‘‘(aa) determines that an in- 16 coming call or text message is 17 verified by the technology enabled 18 in accordance with clause (i) as 19 providing caller identification in- 20 formation in accordance with 21 that clause, whether by— 22 ‘‘(AA) accurately iden- 23 tifying the originating sub- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2298.IH H2298 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 2298 IH scriber that originated the 1 call or text message; 2 ‘‘(BB) lawfully pro- 3 viding misleading or inac- 4 curate caller identification; 5 or 6 ‘‘(CC) displaying ‘Call- 7 er ID Blocked’; or 8 ‘‘(bb) if an incoming call or 9 text message is not verified as 10 described in item (aa), prevents 11 the receiving subscriber from re- 12 ceiving the call or text message; 13 ‘‘(II) to offer to the receiving 14 subscriber the option to enable tech- 15 nology that— 16 ‘‘(aa) identifies an incoming 17 call or text message as origi- 18 nating or probably originating 19 from an automatic telephone di- 20 aling system; and 21 ‘‘(bb) prevents the receiving 22 subscriber from receiving a call 23 or text message identified as de- 24 scribed in item (aa) unless— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2298.IH H2298 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •HR 2298 IH ‘‘(AA) the call or text 1 message is made or sent by 2 a public safety entity, in- 3 cluding a public safety an- 4 swering point (as defined in 5 section 222(h)), emergency 6 operations center, or law en- 7 forcement agency; or 8 ‘‘(BB) the receiving 9 subscriber has provided 10 prior express consent to re- 11 ceive the call or text mes- 12 sage and has not revoked 13 that consent; and 14 ‘‘(III) to offer to the receiving 15 subscriber the ability to request that 16 the receiving provider prevent the re- 17 ceiving subscriber from receiving calls 18 and text messages originating from a 19 particular originating subscriber. 20 ‘‘(C) COMMISSION OVERSIGHT.— 21 ‘‘(i) APPEALS PROCESS RELATING TO 22 ALLEGED AUTODIALERS.—The standards 23 established under subparagraph (B)(ii)(II) 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2298.IH H2298 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •HR 2298 IH shall provide for an appeals process under 1 which— 2 ‘‘(I) an originating subscriber 3 may notify the Commission that the 4 technology offered under that sub- 5 paragraph by a receiving provider is— 6 ‘‘(aa) incorrectly identifying 7 the calls or text messages of the 8 originating subscriber as origi- 9 nating or probably originating 10 from an automatic telephone di- 11 aling system; or 12 ‘‘(bb) preventing receiving 13 subscribers from receiving calls 14 or text messages originated by 15 the originating subscriber that 16 are permitted under item (bb) of 17 that subparagraph; 18 ‘‘(II) if the Commission finds 19 that the circumstance about which the 20 originating subscriber notified the 21 Commission exists, the Commission 22 shall— 23 ‘‘(aa) notify the receiving 24 provider of the finding; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2298.IH H2298 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 13 •HR 2298 IH ‘‘(bb) take such action as is 1 reasonably necessary to correct 2 the circumstance; and 3 ‘‘(III) if the receiving provider is 4 preventing a receiving subscriber from 5 receiving calls or text messages origi- 6 nated by the originating subscriber 7 because the receiving subscriber has 8 requested that prevention, whether di- 9 rectly or through a call-blocking serv- 10 ice, the Commission— 11 ‘‘(aa) may not require the 12 receiving provider to stop pre- 13 venting the calls or text messages 14 unless the receiving subscriber 15 provides affirmative consent; and 16 ‘‘(bb) shall require the re- 17 ceiving provider to notify the re- 18 ceiving subscriber of the exist- 19 ence of the circumstances de- 20 scribed in subclause (II) of this 21 clause. 22 ‘‘(ii) WHITELISTING.— 23 ‘‘(I) REQUEST.—An originating 24 subscriber that offers essential serv- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2298.IH H2298 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 14 •HR 2298 IH ices (referred to in this clause as an 1 ‘essential services subscriber’) may re- 2 quest that the Commission require 3 each receiving provider to allow receiv- 4 ing subscribers of the receiving pro- 5 vider to receive calls or text messages 6 originating from the essential services 7 subscriber. 8 ‘‘(II) GRANT.—If the Commis- 9 sion, through a rigorous vettin [Text truncated for display. 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