CFA, Consumers Union, Consumer Action, National Association of Consumer Advocates, National Consumer Law Center on behalf of its low-income clients, Public Citizen, and Public Knowledge commend the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for taking the initiative to help implement caller ID authentication. There is a wide consensus among experts, industry, and consumer groups that implementing such a system, which will allow callers to verify that their caller ID information is correct, will form the basis for a comprehensive solution to the problem of fraudulent call spoofing. However, the FCC must take additional steps to ensure that this system offers effective protection against illegal and unwanted calls.

1. The FCC should direct voice providers to implement caller ID authentication by the end of 2018, at no cost to consumers.
2. The FCC should direct voice providers to offer consumers the option of blocking calls that fail to verify their caller ID information, for no extra charge.
3. All voice customers, including those using traditional wireline service, should have effective protections from fraudulently spoofed calls.
4. The caller ID authentication system should protect consumers from fraudulently spoofed calls originating overseas.
5. Consumers should be given the option of verifying the legitimacy of calls they make while withholding their personal identifying information from the call recipient.

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