I’m very grateful Senator Inouye called this hearing. These ID services provide us all with information that we need. I’m delighted to have the information when I see who is calling me, I can tell whether to pick up right away or to ask my staff to deal with it, if it something I know I don’t have the time for. This idea that some people can alter that ID information bothers me considerably because it means the loss of privacy, it means identity theft possibilities, and as Senator Nelson mentioned it can compromise personal safety.

 

We need to understand these concerns and try to make a record.  That’s what we’re going to do today with your help, so that others can review the comments of this panel, which will help us determine what holes are in our laws and if they can be filled to address and prevent this spoofing practice.

 

I’m particularly worried about the fraudulent aspects that Senator Nelson has mentioned. Particularly, what it would cost, if it could lead to obtaining money totally under false pretenses. It should be against the law already, but I want to find that out, if there is anyone in law enforcement who is working to deal with that directly at this time.

 

Senators Nelson, Snowe and McCaskill have introduced this bill. It is going to come before the Committee next week and this will be the only hearing and the only opportunity we have to get a record for other members to learn from. So, I’m particularly concerned about the law enforcement acts that have been taken and whether this bill will really provide a solution. I congratulate the sponsors, but will this bill provide the tools law enforcement needs to really improve enforcement activities, and will it provide the information that’s necessary.

 

I’d like to see something developed that if I see something on my caller ID that I want to preserve, then I can. We lose that immediately once we hang up, we’ve lost that ID. What the telephone record might show would be one thing, but what shows up on the ID is another thing. Some way or another, we’ve got to find a way to preserve that information to show the fraudulent activities involved. We get a great many calls from around the country. When we get a caller ID that indicates to us it’s a Governor or it’s someone from a major organization and we’re working on that legislation, we should be able to rely on that ID.

 

This fraudulent ID concept goes into violating constitutional concepts that people have the right to contact Congress to readdress wrongs, but if they’re contacting us under false pretenses, we’ve got to have a way to know it. I think this is a very important piece of legislation. I do hope the record will help us convince the other members of the Committee of that fact.