Florida Senate - 2008 CS for SB 694

By the Committee on Commerce; and Senator Aronberg

577-04452-08 2008694c1

1

A bill to be entitled

2

An act relating to telephone caller identification;

3

providing a short title; creating s. 817.487, F.S.;

4

prohibiting entering or causing to be entered false

5

information into a telephone caller identification system

6

with the intent to deceive, defraud, or mislead;

7

prohibiting placing a call knowing that false information

8

was entered into the telephone caller identification

9

system; providing definitions; providing exceptions;

10

providing penalties; providing that a violation is an

11

unlawful trade practice under specified provisions;

12

providing for enhancement of penalties when a violation is

13

committed during the commission of a criminal offense or

14

when a violation facilitates a criminal offense; providing

15

an effective date.

16

17

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

18

19

     Section 1. This act may be cited as the "Caller ID

20

Anti-spoofing Act."

21

     Section 2.  Section 817.487, Florida Statutes, is created to

22

read:

23

     817.487 Telephone caller identification systems.--

24

     (1) As used in this section:

25

     (a) "Call" means any type of telephone call made using a

26

public switched telephone network, wireless cellular telephone

27

service, or voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) service that has

28

the capability of accessing users on the public switched

29

telephone network or a successor network.

30

     (b) "Caller" means a person who places a call, whether by

31

telephone, over a telephone line, or on a computer.

32

     (c) "Enter" means to input data by whatever means into a

33

computer or telephone system.

34

     (d) "False information" means data that misrepresents the

35

identity of the caller to the recipient of a call or to the

36

network itself; however, when a person making an authorized call

37

on behalf of another person inserts the name, telephone number,

38

or name and telephone number of the person on whose behalf the

39

call is being made, such information shall not be deemed false

40

information.

41

     (e) "Telephone caller identification system" means a

42

listing of a caller's name, telephone number, or name and

43

telephone number that is shown to a recipient of a call when it

44

is received.

45

     (2) A person may not enter or cause to be entered false

46

information into a telephone caller identification system with

47

the intent to deceive, defraud, or mislead the recipient of a

48

call.

49

     (3) A person may not place a call knowing that false

50

information was entered into the telephone caller identification

51

system with the intent to deceive, defraud, or mislead the

52

recipient of the call.

53

     (4) This section does not apply to:

54

     (a) The blocking of caller identification information.

55

     (b) Any law enforcement agency of the federal, state,

56

county, or municipal government.

57

     (c) Any intelligence or security agency of the Federal

58

Government.

59

     (d) A telecommunications, broadband, or voice-over-Internet

60

service provider that is acting solely as an intermediary for the

61

transmission of telephone service between the caller and the

62

recipient.

63

     (5)(a) Any person who violates subsection (2) or subsection

64

(3) commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as

65

provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

66

     (b) Any violation of subsection (2) or subsection (3)

67

constitutes an unlawful trade practice under part II of chapter

68

501 and, in addition to any remedies or penalties set forth in

69

this section, is subject to any remedies or penalties available

70

for a violation of that part.

71

     (6)(a) The felony or misdemeanor degree of any criminal

72

offense shall be reclassified by the court to the next higher

73

degree as provided in this subsection if the offender violated

74

subsection (2) or subsection (3) during the commission of the

75

criminal offense or if a violation by the offender of subsection

76

(2) or subsection (3) facilitated or furthered the criminal

77

offense. The reclassification shall be as follows:

78

     1. In the case of a misdemeanor of the second degree, the

79

offense is reclassified as a misdemeanor of the first degree.

80

     2. In the case of a misdemeanor of the first degree, the

81

offense is reclassified as a felony of the third degree.

82

     3. In the case of a felony of the third degree, the offense

83

is reclassified as a felony of the second degree.

84

     4. In the case of a felony of the second degree, the

85

offense is reclassified as a felony of the first degree.

86

     5. In the case of a felony of the first degree or a felony

87

of the first degree punishable by a term of imprisonment not

88

exceeding life, the offense is reclassified as a life felony.

89

     (b) For purposes of sentencing under chapter 921 the

90

following offense severity ranking levels apply:

91

     1. An offense that is a misdemeanor of the first degree and

92

that is reclassified under this subsection as a felony of the

93

third degree is ranked in level 2 of the offense severity ranking

94

chart.

95

     2. A felony offense that is reclassified under this

96

subsection is ranked one level above the ranking specified in s.

97

921.0022 or s. 921.0023 for the offense committed.

98

     Section 3.  This act shall take effect October 1, 2008.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.