[asterisk-users] US "Truth in caller id act"... and it's impact on services

[Philip Prindeville]

For the 3rd consecutive term, the US Senate has introduced the "Truth in 
caller ID Act of 2009".

It was passed by the Senate (finally) in January, and has moved to the 
House for a vote.

A lot of states have ambiguous or overly restrictive language on how 
caller ID may be manipulated.

For instance, if you have a PBX, and a call comes in from the PSTN, 
which you then loop back out or "hairpin" (without a redirect) to the 
PSTN (therefore as two separate but bridged call legs) and put the 
caller ID of the 1st call onto the 2nd leg (which is, by the way, the 
default behavior of Asterisk) you may be breaking the law in some states.

This law introduces uniformity across all states (it's nice to have a 
level playing field, whether you agree with this law or not).

It also very specifically defines under what condition spoofing/swatting 
is illegal:

(1)IN  GENERAL- It shall be unlawful for any person within the United States,in  connection with any real time voice communications service, regardless of the technology or network utilized, to cause anycaller  ID  service to transmit misleading or inaccuratecaller  ID  information, with the intent to defraud or deceive.

http://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc111/h1258_eh.xml


which is nice, because it's less ambiguous about when the activity is illegal (and avoids unnecessary contention between customers, telcos, and PUC's).


For instance, if you're implementing "single number calling" for your 
employees, so that their cell-originated calls indicates their primary 
(deskphone) work number, the "the intent to defraud or deceive" is absent.

This act delivers a badly needed brightline definition of what can and 
can't be done within the limits of the law.

If you agree with this law, and believe that it facilitates the 
deployment of useful calling features, then please contact your congressman.

And if you don't, well, you have a voice too, so tell them why it falls 
short.

Either way, this act has been backburnered way too long and it's time to 
have a final conclusion on the matter.

-Philip