[December 15, 2010] Telemarketing Sales Rule Tweet Dec 15, 2010 (Federal Trade Commission Documents and Publications/ContentWorks via COMTEX) -- SUMMARY: The Commission requests public comment on provisions of the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule concerning caller identification services and disclosure of the identity of the seller or telemarketer responsible for telemarketing calls. DATES: Written comments must be received on or before January 28, 2011. ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments electronically or in paper form, by following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Comments in electronic form should be submitted at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/tsrcalleridanprm (and following the instructions on the Web-based form). Comments in paper form should be mailed or delivered to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Room H-113 (Annex Q), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580, in the manner detailed in the Request for Comment part of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Tankersley, (202) 326-2991, Attorney, Division of Marketing Practices, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Summary When the Commission amended the Telemarketing Sales Rule ("TSR" or "Rule") in 2003, it added a requirement that telemarketers transmit identifying information to caller identification ("Caller ID") services. /1/ Most companies that offer basic telephone service also offer services that will display to the recipient of the call the telephone number and name for the calling party. Traditional Caller ID services rely upon telecommunications signals that allow the caller's local telephone exchange to send a telephone number of the calling party, and a code that signals whether or not the caller wants its number to be blocked. Enhanced Caller ID services--which, as the name implies, go beyond basic display of the calling party's number--use directories or databases to associate the calling party number with a name. Thus, the "Caller ID" information provided to consumers may include both a telephone number and name for the originator of an incoming call. FOOTNOTE 1 68 FR 4579, 4672 (2003) (codified at 16 CFR 310.4(a)(7)). END FOOTNOTE The use of Caller ID information, however, has changed with the growing availability of technologies that allow callers to alter the number that appears on the recipient's Caller ID display. Many businesses now have access to technologies that allow them to transmit Caller ID numbers that are not associated with their geographical location, or that, when dialed, connect the caller to a voice mail service. Users of these technologies also have the ability to cause the recipient's Caller ID equipment to display a telephone number that is not in service as the source of the call, or create the appearance that the call is coming from someone who is not affiliated with the actual caller. /2/ In addition, these advanced technologies also enable callers to control and manipulate the name information displayed by Caller ID services. /3/ FOOTNOTE 2 See S. Rept. 96, 111th Cong., 1st Sess. 1-2 (2009); Hearing before the House Subcomm. on Telecomm. and the Internet, Truth in Caller ID Act, 110th Cong., 1st Sess. Ser. No. 110-8, 9-10 (2007) (test. of Kris Monteith); H. Sengar, D. Wijesekera, S. Jojodia, Authentication and Integrity in Telecommunication Signaling Network, Proceedings of the 12th IEEE Intern. Conf. and Workshops on the Eng. of Computer-Based Systems (2005). END FOOTNOTE FOOTNOTE 3 See Ed Norris and Harry Hetz, "Caller ID Integrity Attacks,'' The ISSA J. 6 (Jan. 2004). END FOOTNOTE The Commission solicits comments on whether changes should be made to the TSR to reflect the current use and capabilities of Caller ID technologies. In particular, the Commission is interested in whether the TSR should be amended to better achieve the objectives of the Caller ID provisions--including namely, to enable consumers and law enforcement to use Caller ID information to identify entities responsible for illegal telemarketing practices. The Commission also solicits comment on whether it should amend the TSR specifically to regulate services that misrepresent, conceal, or obscure the identity of telemarketers or sellers, or should expand the provisions of the TSR that require oral disclosure of the identity of the seller or charitable organization on whose behalf a call is being made to require additional or more specific disclosures. /4/ FOOTNOTE 4 16 CFR 310.4(d), (e). END FOOTNOTE I. How Caller Identification Services Work Caller identification services rely upon identifying information transmitted with the signaling codes that accompany a telephone transmission. Telephone calls on the public switch telephone network are routed to their destinations by means of a specialized protocol called "signaling system seven," or "SS7." SS7 includes a calling party number ("CPN") that is intended to identify the telephone number of the caller, and a privacy code that indicates whether access to this information should be restricted. /5/ Carriers using SS7 are generally required to transmit the CPN associated with an interstate call. /6/ FOOTNOTE 5 47 CFR 64.1600(c), (d) (2009). END FOOTNOTE FOOTNOTE 6 47 CFR 64.1601(a), (d). END FOOTNOTE The CPN is used in a number of services provided to consumers. If a consumer subscribes to a Caller ID service and has Caller ID-capable equipment, the telephone number identified as the source of the call will be displayed with the incoming call. /7/ Telephone service providers also use CPN to offer consumers call-return service. This feature provides call recipients who press *69 after receiving a telephone call either: (1) Information regarding the last incoming call, and the option to dial the caller back, or (2) the ability to return the last incoming call. /8/ Consumers can also purchase services or equipment that selectively blocks incoming calls, or selectively forwards calls based on the CPN transmitted with a call. /9/ FOOTNOTE 7 Rules and Regulations Regarding Calling Number Identification Service--Caller ID, 10 FCC Rcd. 11700, 11705 [paragraph] 9 (1994) (``Second Report''). END FOOTNOTE FOOTNOTE 8 68 FR at 44,166; Second Report, 10 FCC Rcd. at 11708-09 [paragraph] 21. END FOOTNOTE FOOTNOTE 9 Telephone service providers also offer call trace or "customer-originated trace" services that enable a subscriber to initiate a trace of the last call received. The subscriber initiates the trace by disconnecting the call and dialing a code that prompts the service provider to capture information that may assist law enforcement in tracing the origin of the call. The call trace may involve the use of CPN and automatic number service information. See 47 CFR 64.1601(d)(4)(iii) (exempting legally authorized call tracing or trapping procedures from restrictions on CPN delivery); 47 CFR 64.1602(a)(3)(iv) (allowing disclosure of information from automatic number service or charge number service for the purpose of complying with applicable law or legal process). END FOOTNOTE Enhanced Caller ID services provide additional information by associating the CPN with a caller name. The caller name is typically obtained by the call recipient's service provider sending a query to a centralized calling name ("CNAM") database or directory that associates telephone numbers with names of up to 15 characters. If the database returns an associated name, the name, or both the name and the number, are displayed by the call recipient's equipment while the call is ringing, unless a privacy code indicates that access to the name is blocked. /10/ The name information may come directly from telephone carriers or from database compilers that are not carriers. /11/ FOOTNOTE 10 Second Report, 10 FCC Rcd. at 11708, 11746; Powers, Calling Name Delivery, IEEEE International Conference on Communications, 1908 (Chicago, IL, 1992); R. Robrock, II, "The Many Faces of the LIDB Database," IEEE Intern. Conf. Comm., 1903, 1904 (Chicago, IL, 1992); see, e.g., Cisco Systems, Inc., Calling Name Delivery (CNAM) (2007), available at http://www.cisco.or.at/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/pgw/9/feature/module/9.7_3_/cnam.pdf. END FOOTNOTE FOOTNOTE 11 Telephony protocols other than SS7 may transmit caller name information directly from the originator of the call, without relying on a query to a separate database. See Session Initiation Protocol, [paragraph] 6.2 (Internet Working Group 1999), available at http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2543.txt (describing optional ``display-name'' parameter in Internet telephony protocol). END FOOTNOTE It is important to note that the CPN is not the same as the calling party's ``charge number" or "automatic number identification" (``ANI''). /12/ ANI and its SS7-based equivalent, the charge number, refer to the delivery of the calling party's billing number for billing and routing purposes. /13/ Although the CPN and the ANI/charge number for a given call may be the same, the CPN and ANI/charge number may differ and often do differ in calls from business lines. /14/ FOOTNOTE 12 See Rules and Policies Regarding Caller Number Identification Service, 9 FCC Rcd. 1764, 1772-73 (1994) ("First Report"). ANI's original purpose was to enable carriers to bill customers for calls. END FOOTNOTE FOOTNOTE 13 Rules and Regulations Implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991, 68 FR 44,144, 41,167 (2003). END FOOTNOTE FOOTNOTE 14 Second Report, 10 FCC Rcd. at 11707 [paragraph] 17 & n.14. END FOOTNOTE --This is a summary of a Federal Register article originally published on the page number listed below-- Advance notice of proposed rulemaking; request for public comments. CFR Part: "16 CFR Part 310" RIN Number: "RIN 3084-AB19" Citation: "75 FR 78178" Federal Register Page Number: "78178" "Proposed Rules" [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]