WASHINGTON-The House Commerce Committee is warning two data brokers that if they do not satisfactorily answer a letter sent this morning, which is highly critical of the companies and questions their practice of selling cell-phone records, they will face a subpoena to either produce the records or appear before the House Commerce oversight and investigations subcommittee.
Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), chairman of the House Commerce Committee, said at a Wednesday hearing on the cell-phone records scandal that the committee would seek answers from the data brokers.
“I can only guess at the excuses that will be offered by people who profit by engaging in an obvious fraud, by invading personal privacy and by assisting in criminal behavior,” said Barton.
The House Commerce Committee letters contained strong words for data brokers that the committee said “offer criminals, stalkers and any other paying customer the detailed records of a person’s private calls made on cellular, wireline or Internet-based phones.”
The letters were sent to Steven Schwartz, director of First Source Information Specialists Inc., and Patrick Baird, director of PDJ Services. Schwartz and Baird must respond by Feb. 17.
The data brokers are specifically asked whether their companies engage in pretexting-impersonating a customer to obtain call records.
Additionally, they are asked whether they have “conducted, through an examination by either in-house or outside counsel, an analysis of the legal implications and risks of acquiring and selling the personal cell-phone records and other data associated with a given cell-phone number?”
First Source was recently cited by the Federal Communications Commission for not adequately responding to its own inquiry. At Wednesday’s hearing, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin asked that the commission be given additional powers beyond “citations” when a non-licensee or common carrier refuses to answer its questions.
Going after data brokers is only one prong of a large-scale attack against the sale of cell-phone records. Lawmakers and regulators are also examining what rules need to be in place to better protect customer call records.
Legislation on the issue has been introduced separately in the Senate by Sens. Charles Schumer (D.-N.Y.) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.). There are at least two bills in the House, and Barton has said he too plans to introduce a bill on the topic.
At the FCC, Martin wants the commission to act on the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s petition that asked the agency to implement additional rules to protect customer call records. If Martin’s colleagues agree, the agency would then move forward to propose rules. He wants the FCC to propose the rules at next Friday’s scheduled meeting. At RCR Wireless News’ press time, the agenda for the meeting had yet to be announced. FCC commissioners are allowed to ask for a one-month postponement of agenda items.
Wireless industry trade association CTIA opposes the EPIC petition. However, CTIA President Steve Largent told RCR Wireless News during a break in the Wednesday hearing that the wireless industry agrees with 90 percent of EPIC’s petition, but disagrees with some of the ways in which the group hopes to solve the problem.
“We think there are some elements of the EPIC petition that go way too far that actually take us backwards. This is just a difference of opinion. We are trying to accomplish the same goal we are just going about it differently,” said Largent.
For its part, EPIC urged Congress to begin considering “whether the best possible solution in the long run would be to limit the collection of this information,” said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of EPIC.
The Senate Commerce consumer-affairs subcommittee is expected to examine the issue Wednesday, but this time Kris Montieth, chief of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, is expected to be in the hot seat. The Federal Trade Commission, which sent FTC Commissioner Jon Liebowitz to testify before the House Commerce Committee, is also sending a staffer.
Policy makers at all levels have been jumping on the bandwagon of protecting cell-phone privacy after the CBS Evening News broadcast a Jan. 12 report critical of the wireless industry and the apparent theft and sale of customer-call records.
The scandal is also hot at the state level. Several state bills have been introduced and several state attorneys general are investigating the scandal. Lisa Madigan, the attorney general for Illinois, urged Congress to consider dual enforcement by both the states and the federal government.
In addition to its rulemaking proceeding, the FCC is also examining carriers’ privacy certifications.
