Four U.S. Senators – two from each side of the aisle – have introduced S. 594, the Anti-Spoofing Penalties Modernization Act of 2021. The lead sponsor – Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) – is joined by Senators Gary Peters (D-MI), Josh Hawley (R- MO) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) (https://www.collins.senate.gov/newsroom/bill-crack-down-deceptive-tactic-used-robocallers-introduced-senators-collins-sinema-0).
The proposal would double the penalties currently permitted under Section 227(e)(5) of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), as amended by the Truth In Caller ID Act, for illegal robocalls that spoof the telephone number for caller identification purposes.
The current civil forfeiture penalty for each violation would increase from $10,000 to $20,000, or three times that amount for each day of a continuing violation. The current $1,000,000 maximum penalty for any continuing violation would increase to $2,000,000.
The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, of which Senators Peters and Sinema are members.
Civil forfeiture penalties are a joke and the entire world realizes and understands it because we all know the FCC won’t ever collect a dime of these so-called “penalties.” If these were civil violations payable to the called party then the industry would take notice and govern itself accordingly because consumers and their attorneys will collect. They might as well make the “penalties” ten billion dollars, it is just a number that will never be collected.
227(e)(5) should have a private right of action with $5,000 per violation with the possibility of treble up to $15,000 if the violation was done knowingly or willfully and the possibility of increase up to $25,000 if there was intent to defraud or commit any fraud/theft offense.