Bill prohibits misleading phone numbers on caller ID
Raleigh, N.C. – State House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) and three of his colleagues filed legislation on Wednesday to prohibit the use of misleading telephone identification methods by solicitors in North Carolina.
House Bill 724 Truth in Caller ID Act is sponsored by Rep. Jason Saine (R-Lincoln), Rep. Phil Shepard (R-Onslow), Rep. Chris Humphrey (R-Lenoir), and Speaker Moore.
The legislation would prohibit any telephone solicitor from causing misleading information to be transmitted to users of caller identification technologies or otherwise block or misrepresent the origin of the telephone solicitation.
“I hear it from my friends and neighbors, the people I represent, everywhere I go,” Moore said. “The constant use of misleading phone numbers by telemarketers disrupts their businesses and daily lives.”
“Requiring telephone solicitors to accurately identify who they are is a commonsense reform to help families and businesses inundated with sales calls.”
Telephone solicitors would be required to use either their contact information or the name and number of the actual entity the sales call is being made on behalf of under the legislation.
Rep. Jason Saine (R-Lincoln) also released a statement:
“The Truth in Caller ID Act will bring overdue accountability to telemarketing and provide valuable information for millions of North Carolinians receiving sales calls that currently block or misrepresent the origin of the solicitation,” Saine said.
If passed into law, the Truth in Caller ID Act would become effective December 1, 2019.
“It becomes worrisome for people to receive six or seven calls each day that are using local phone numbers, but when you answer the call it’s a solicitation that you don’t need,” Shepard said. “This misleading practice of masking phone numbers is interfering with my constituents’ work and their busy daily lives.”
Current law in North Carolina only prohibits telephone solicitors from knowingly using any method to block or otherwise circumvent a telephone subscriber’s use of a caller identification service.
“Confusing North Carolinians with misleading phone numbers is not the way to do business in our state,” said Rep. Chris Humphrey, a primary sponsor of the legislation. “Requiring solicitors to represent who they really are with accurate caller ID will instill basic transparency to benefit both industries and consumers in today’s marketplace.”