As Hewlett Packard Investigation Unfolds, Schumer Calls on Senate Leadership to Pass Bipartisan Bill Criminalizing Sale of Cell Phone Call Logs

As Hewlett Packard Investigation Unfolds, Schumer Calls On Senate Leadership To Pass Bipartisan Bill Criminalizing Sale Of Cell Phone Call Logs

With Investigation into the Use of Pretexting at Hewlett Packard Ongoing, Schumer's Legislation Would Criminalize Growing Practice That Puts Individual's Cell Phone Records in the Hands of Criminals - Bill Already Passed House 409-0

Senator: No Laws Currently On The Books Banning This Practice

Today U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer called on Majority Leader Bill Frist to immediately bring to the floor Schumer's comprehensive legislation that would criminalize the practice, also known as pretexting, of both stealing and selling cell phone, landline and voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) records. Hewlett Packard's Chairwoman Patricia Dunn is currently accused of contracting a company who used pretexting to obtain cell phone records of other board members and journalists. The bipartisan Telephone Records and Privacy Protection (TRAPP) Act (S. 2178), introduced by Schumer in January along with Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Bill Nelson (D-FL), was reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously back in March, but the bill has stalled in the full Senate.

"Stealing someone's private phone records is absolutely a criminal act and the fact that it can't be prosecuted as one has got to change," Schumer said. "Stealing a person's phone log can lead to serious personal, financial, and safety issues for just about any American. Pretexting companies are popping up across the country and we need to give law enforcement the tools to track these criminals down and put them out of business."

The TRAPP Act will make it a federal offense, punishable as a felony, to obtain customer information from a telephone service provider by false pretenses or access a customer account on the Internet to obtain billing information without authorization. The bill also makes it a crime for phone company employees to sell customer information without proper authorization. The bill applies to cell, landline, and (VOIP) phone records. An identical version of Schumer's legislation passed the House 409-0.

The following actions will be violations of federal law under Schumer's legislation: Obtain someone's phone records by 1. Making false or fraudulent statements or representations to an employee of a telephone service provider; 2. Making such statements to a customer of a telephone service provider; 3. Accessing a customer account on the Internet without the customer's authorization; 4. Providing false documentation to a telephone service provider knowing that the document is false.

Cell phone call logs are sought out for a variety of reasons. For years phone records gave been used by law enforcement and private detectives, but with the internet, gaining access to that information has gotten much easier. Websites like www.-cellphonerecords.org offer the service online, and with little regulation it is nearly impossible to stop.

Experts say that these records can be made available through three techniques. The first is having someone that works for one of the phone companies who sells the data. Though strict rules inside most of the phone companies make this practice risky, officials say that finding someone with access to the information desired is not that difficult. The second technique is "pretexting" where a data broker or the like pretends to be the owner of the phone. In doing so, they convince the cell phone company's employees to release the data to them.

Though the problem is all too common, federal law is too narrow to include this type of crime. Pretexting for financial data is illegal, but its does not include phone records.

"We should protect your phone information and call logs the same way we protect your financial information or even medical records. Very personal information can be gleaned from our telephone records and criminals who steal this information should be punished," Schumer concluded.

http://schumer.senate.gov/SchumerWebsite/pressroom/record.cfm?id=262904&&year=2006&