Media Contact: Will Wiquist, (202) 418-0509 will.wiquist@fcc.gov For Immediate Release FCC PROPOSES RULES TO AID INVESTIGATION OF THREATENING CALLS FCC Builds Off of Temporary Waiver from March for Jewish Community Centers -- WASHINGTON, June 22, 2017 – The Federal Communications Commission today proposed rules to help unmask anonymous callers who threaten and harass schools, religious institutions, and other victims. This effort follows the FCC’s temporary waiver earlier this year of caller ID privacy rules in order to help law enforcement address threatening phone calls received by Jewish Community Centers. The FCC is seeking to help law enforcement and community institutions get from telephone providers quick access to the information they need to identify and thwart threatening callers. The Commission seeks to streamline this process so that, going forward, institutions facing harassing or threatening calls can work with law enforcement to access caller ID info of the anonymous callers more quickly than the current, case-by-case waiver process. The proposal would amend the FCC’s rules to ensure that law enforcement and threatened parties can quickly identify threatening callers without the regulatory delay of applying for and being granted a waiver of the rules. The proposal lays out a path that protects consumer privacy by ensuring that caller information only be disclosed for truly threatening calls and that only law enforcement personnel and others responsible for the safety and security of the threatened party have access to otherwise-protected caller ID information. Designed to protect the privacy interests of legitimate callers, the Commission’s current rules generally prohibit voice providers from revealing blocked caller ID information or to use that information to allow the called party to contact the caller. In response to threatening phone calls made to numerous Jewish Community Centers, the FCC moved quickly in March 2017 to provide the centers and phone carriers with an emergency waiver, allowing them to identify threatening callers in these specific instances. The temporary waiver will remain in place for Jewish Community Centers while the Commission takes public comment on a streamlined approach that promotes a timely response to public safety threats while maintaining caller ID privacy protections. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking adopted today starts a process in which public comment is welcome. Following review of that record, the Commission may decide to move forward with final rules. Action by the Commission June 22, 2017 by Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FCC 17-76). Chairman Pai and Commissioners Clyburn and O’Rielly approving and issuing separate statements. CC Docket No. 91-281 ### Office of Media Relations: (202) 418-0500 ASL Videophone: 1-844-432-2275 TTY: (888) 835-5322 Twitter: @FCC www.fcc.gov/office-media-relations This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action. See MCI v. FCC, 515 F.2d 385 (D.C. Cir. 1974).