Lawmakers target brokers of phone records

WASHINGTON -- Fraudulently obtaining and selling a person's telephone records would become a crime under legislation approved Wednesday by a House committee.

The bill also would require telecommunications companies to get consumers' permission before sharing information about their calling records with business partners.

"Americans are rightfully concerned that identity thieves, stalkers, and unscrupulous data brokers can access such information they believed was kept private by their telephone company," said the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, GOP Rep. Joe Barton of Texas.

The sale over the Internet of people's private calling records has gotten widespread media attention, stirring outrage among members of Congress and federal regulators.

The bill also would require phone companies to get permission from customers before disclosing their cell phone numbers.

Several major wireless carriers are considering creating a 411 directory assistance service similar to the one now available for landline phones. The companies have said the service would be designed in such a way that the wireless customer would have to choose to have his cell number included in the service.

For about $100, dozens of sites on the Internet offer the phone records -- wireless and traditional wireline -- of virtually anyone. In many cases, all someone would need is the phone number of the would-be target.

The Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission are investigating. The FTC says about 20 sites have suspended operations or stopped advertising for new business.

The legislation approved by the House committee would ban the sale of phone records and the practice of "pretexting" -- when someone calls a phone company pretending to be a customer and persuades it to release sensitive call information. This practice is illegal when used to obtain financial data, but there is no specific law against it for phone records.

The bill would require tighter security measures by the carriers and increase fines from $100,000 to $300,000 that the FCC could seek for telecommunication companies that violate customer privacy laws.

The trade group for the major wireless carriers expressed concern about the scope of the bill.

"We applaud any effort that focuses on the criminal who is unlawfully obtaining and marketing private call record information," said Joseph Farren, spokesman for CTIA-The Wireless Association.

"At the same time, we have serious concerns about how far this bill goes into issues completely unrelated to the illicit behavior Congress is attempting to stop," he said.

The House and Senate Judiciary Committees have passed legislation that would impose criminal penalties for pretexting for phone records.

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