Caller ID Spoofing - Not a Problem for Backward Phone Lookup
"Spoofing" occurs when a rogue company projects false or misleading caller identification information to either cause the legitimate owner of the phone number to have to respond to any regulatory inquiries or obscure the actual source of the call.
Article
It has always been true that legitimate companies, which rigorously research and conform to applicable state and federal laws, bear a burden caused by rogue telemarketers. Nearly every telemarketing restriction was adopted in response to previously perceived abuse and legitimate companies likely would not have caused the problem in the first place but now bear the burden of complying with the regulatory response.
An easy example is state and federal laws regarding projection of caller identification information ("Caller ID"). While legitimate companies would always disclose their identity in making a telephone call to a consumer, the government has responded to anonymous abuse with the federal restriction that number and, where available, name, must be projected for all telemarketing calls1. In this "cat and mouse" arena, however, there has now been a third stage, where illegitimate actors have responded to the Caller ID requirements with new tactics, i.e.: (1) abuse, 2) regulatory or legitimate business response, and 3) new abuse which evades or frustrates response- caller ID "spoofing."
"Spoofing" occurs when a rogue company projects false or misleading caller identification information to either cause the legitimate owner of the phone number to have to respond to any regulatory inquiries or obscure the actual source of the call.
Applicable Laws
Both the Telemarketing Sales Rule ("TSR") and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA") require telemarketers to project caller identification information including number and, where available from the telephone company, name of the caller. If a telemarketing company places calls on behalf of a seller, either the seller's information or the telemarketer's information can be used.
The number provided must allow a caller to make a "do-not-call" request during normal business hours (i.e. it can simply record "do-not-call" requests, or it can be an inbound call center performing that and other tasks (e.g. sales, customer service, etc.)).
Thus, any company that "spoofs" your telephone number for caller identification is violating the TSR and TCPA. The company likely is also violating other federal unfair trade practices laws, criminal laws (e.g. wire fraud), and equivalent state laws.
Recently, some states have passed narrow laws aimed at "spoofing." Mississippi's law, for example, goes into effect on June 1, 2010. The chair of the state Public Service Commission (the entity that enforces Mississippi's state "do-not-call" list) commented that more than 200 no call complaints received by his Commission may have been caused by spoofing. These complaints put the burden of the illegal activity on the legitimate owner of the "spoofed" number.
There are other specific state "anti-spoofing" laws, but a compliance officer might not need to reach these. Spoofing is clearly illegal under multiple federal and state laws.
Article
It has always been true that legitimate companies, which rigorously research and conform to applicable state and federal laws, bear a burden caused by rogue telemarketers. Nearly every telemarketing restriction was adopted in response to previously perceived abuse and legitimate companies likely would not have caused the problem in the first place but now bear the burden of complying with the regulatory response.
An easy example is state and federal laws regarding projection of caller identification information ("Caller ID"). While legitimate companies would always disclose their identity in making a telephone call to a consumer, the government has responded to anonymous abuse with the federal restriction that number and, where available, name, must be projected for all telemarketing calls1. In this "cat and mouse" arena, however, there has now been a third stage, where illegitimate actors have responded to the Caller ID requirements with new tactics, i.e.: (1) abuse, 2) regulatory or legitimate business response, and 3) new abuse which evades or frustrates response- caller ID "spoofing."
"Spoofing" occurs when a rogue company projects false or misleading caller identification information to either cause the legitimate owner of the phone number to have to respond to any regulatory inquiries or obscure the actual source of the call.
Applicable Laws
Both the Telemarketing Sales Rule ("TSR") and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA") require telemarketers to project caller identification information including number and, where available from the telephone company, name of the caller. If a telemarketing company places calls on behalf of a seller, either the seller's information or the telemarketer's information can be used.
The number provided must allow a caller to make a "do-not-call" request during normal business hours (i.e. it can simply record "do-not-call" requests, or it can be an inbound call center performing that and other tasks (e.g. sales, customer service, etc.)).
Thus, any company that "spoofs" your telephone number for caller identification is violating the TSR and TCPA. The company likely is also violating other federal unfair trade practices laws, criminal laws (e.g. wire fraud), and equivalent state laws.
Recently, some states have passed narrow laws aimed at "spoofing." Mississippi's law, for example, goes into effect on June 1, 2010. The chair of the state Public Service Commission (the entity that enforces Mississippi's state "do-not-call" list) commented that more than 200 no call complaints received by his Commission may have been caused by spoofing. These complaints put the burden of the illegal activity on the legitimate owner of the "spoofed" number.
There are other specific state "anti-spoofing" laws, but a compliance officer might not need to reach these. Spoofing is clearly illegal under multiple federal and state laws.
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