Home > 106th Congressional Bills > H.R. 3100 (ih) To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit telemarketers from interfering with the caller identification service of any person to whom a telephone solicitation is made, and for other purposes. [Introduced in House] ...H.R. 3100 (ih) To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit telemarketers from interfering with the caller identification service of any person to whom a telephone solicitation is made, and for other purposes. [Introduced in House] ...
106th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 3100
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit telemarketers from
interfering with the caller identification service of any person to
whom a telephone solicitation is made, and for other purposes.
106th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 3100
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit telemarketers from
interfering with the caller identification service of any person to
whom a telephone solicitation is made, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Know Your Caller Act of 2000''.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF INTERFERENCE WITH CALLER IDENTIFICATION
SERVICES.
Section 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227) is
amended--
(1) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as subsections
(f) and (g), respectively; and
(2) by inserting after subsection (d) the following new
subsection:
``(e) Prohibition on Interference With Caller Identification
Services.--
``(1) In general.--It shall be unlawful for any person
within the United States, in making any telephone
solicitation--
``(A) to interfere with or circumvent the
capability of a caller identification service to access
or provide to the recipient of the telephone call
involved in the solicitation any information regarding
the call that such service is capable of providing; and
``(B) to fail to provide caller identification
information in a manner that is accessible by a caller
identification service, if such person has capability
to provide such information in such a manner.
For purposes of this section, the use of a telecommunications
service or equipment that is incapable of transmitting caller
identification information shall not, of itself, constitute
interference with or circumvention of the capability of a
caller identification service to access or provide such
information.
``(2) Regulations.--Not later than 6 months after the
enactment of the Know Your Caller Act of 2000, the Commission
shall prescribe regulations to implement this subsection, which
shall--
``(A) specify that the information regarding a call
that the prohibition under paragraph (1) applies to
includes--
``(i) the name of the person or entity who
makes the telephone call involved in the
solicitation;
``(ii) the name of the person or entity on
whose behalf the solicitation is made; and
``(iii) a valid and working telephone
number at which the person or entity on whose
behalf the telephone solicitation is made may
be reached during regular business hours for
the purpose of requesting that the recipient of
the solicitation be placed on the do-not-call
list required under section 64.1200 of the
Commission's regulations (47 CFR 64.1200) to be
maintained by such person or entity; and
``(B) provide that any person or entity who
receives a request from a person to be placed on such
do-not-call list may not use such person's name and
telephone number for telemarketing, mail marketing, or
other marketing purpose (including transfer or sale to
any other entity for marketing use) other than
enforcement of such list.
``(3) Private right of action.--A person or entity may, if
otherwise permitted by the laws or rules of court of a State,
bring in an appropriate court of that State--
``(A) an action based on a violation of this
subsection or the regulations prescribed under this
subsection to enjoin such violation;
``(B) an action to recover for actual monetary loss
from such a violation, or to receive $500 in damages
for each such violation, whichever is greater; or
``(C) both such actions.
If the court finds that the defendant willfully or knowingly
violated this subsection or the regulations prescribed under
this subsection, the court may, in its discretion, increase the
amount of the award to an amount equal to not more than 3 times
the amount available under subparagraph (B) of this paragraph.
``(4) Definitions.--For purposes of this subsection:
``(A) 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 an incoming
telephone call.
``(B) Telephone call.--The term `telephone call'
means any telephone call or other transmission which is
made to or received at a telephone number of any type
of telephone service and includes telephone calls made
using the Internet (irrespective of the type of
customer premises equipment used in connection with
such services). Such term also includes calls made by
an automatic telephone dialing system, an integrated
services digital network, and a commercial mobile radio
source.''.
SEC. 3. EFFECT ON STATE LAW AND STATE ACTIONS.
(a) Effect on State Law.--Subsection (f)(1) of section 227 of the
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(f)(1)), as so redesignated by
section 2(1) of this Act, is further amended by inserting after
``subsection (d)'' the following: ``and the prohibition under
paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (e),''.
(b) Actions by States.--The first sentence of subsection (g)(1) of
section 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(g)(1)), as
so redesignated by section 2(1) of this Act, is further amended by
striking ``telephone calls'' and inserting ``telephone solicitations,
telephone calls, or''.
SEC. 4. STUDY REGARDING TRANSMISSION OF CALLER IDENTIFICATION
INFORMATION.
The Federal Communications Commission shall conduct a study to
determine--
(1) the extent of the capability of the public switched
network to transmit the information that can be accessed by
caller identification services;
(2) the types of telecommunications equipment being used in
the telemarketing industry, the extent of such use, and the
capabilities of such types of equipment to transmit the
information that can be accessed by caller identification
services; and
(3) the changes to the public switched network and to the
types of telecommunications equipment commonly being used in
the telemarketing industry that would be necessary to provide
for the public switched network to be able to transmit caller
identification information on all telephone calls, and the
costs (including costs to the telemarketing industry) to
implement such changes.
The Commission shall complete the study and submit a report to the
Congress on the results of the study, not later than one year after the
date of the enactment of this Act.
Passed the House of Representatives September 27, 2000.
Attest:
Clerk.
Pages: 1 Other Popular 106th Congressional Bills Documents:
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