New Jersey Assembly Passes Anti-Spoofing Bill
The New Jersey Assembly unanimously passed its version of Caller ID anti-spoofing legislation Monday -- the Truth in Caller Identification Act (A3002). The bill would make Caller ID spoofing illegal in the state when an entity uses the practice to defraud, harm or steal. The bill allows for a $10,000 fine for a first offense and up to a $20,000 fine for each additional offense. The Senate is still considering an identical version of the bill (S743). The bill would also direct the state attorney general to issue cease and desist orders for fraudulent spoofing and would allow judges to award trebled damages in spoofing lawsuits.
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A3002 strengthens existing New Jersey consumer protection law and goes beyond the provisions in the 2010 federal Truth in Caller ID Act, said Assemblyman Carmelo Garcia, a Democrat who's one of the bill's main sponsors. Garcia said his staff drew on “more stringent” state anti-spoofing laws that impose higher fines than the federal Truth in Caller ID Act, which only allows for a $10,000 fine for each spoofing offense up to a $1 million limit. “There’s no real penalties in place right now that consequently would deter someone from spoofing, whether out-of-state or in-state,” he said.
A3002 won’t prohibit local, state or federal law enforcement agencies from using spoofing in the performance of their official duties, which Garcia told us was “critical” given its use in law enforcement. “Any law enforcement agency that uses spoofing in a sting operation can still do that,” he said. A3002 also doesn’t prohibit people from blocking the transmission of Caller ID information to their own phones.
The U.S. House passed the Anti-Spoofing Act (HR-3670) earlier this year, but the Senate hasn’t acted on the similar Phone Scam Prevention Act (S-2956). HR-3670 would revise the 2010 Truth in Caller ID Act to include spoofing companies based outside the U.S. IP-enabled voice services and text-message spoofing. S-2956 would include the same protections as HR-3670 as well as direct the FCC to develop Caller ID authentication standards (see 1411240016).