WASHINGTON—The House of Representatives earlier this week unanimously passed the Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act of 2006, which criminalizes pretexting—the practice of impersonating someone else to get access to their records. However, the House has yet to consider another bill aimed at changing the way telecommunications carriers protect customer call records.
The Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act would create prison terms of up to 20 years and fines of up to $500,000, including penalties for using the records to commit crimes against law enforcement or domestic-violence victims.
“Few things are more personal and potentially more revealing than our phone records. A careful study of these records may reveal details of our medical or financial life. It may even disclose our physical location and occupation—a serious concern for undercover police officers and victims of stalking and domestic violence,” said Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the sponsor of the bill.
The bill, which had been considered by the House Judiciary Committee, was praised by the telecommunications industry.
“Protecting the privacy of customer communications and records is an essential component of customer care by our companies and critical to the success of their businesses. We applaud the House for passing common-sense legislation to pursue aggressively the bad actors abusing consumer privacy without imposing unnecessary and costly regulatory mandates,” said Ed Merlis, senior vice president of government and regulatory affairs for USTelecom.
However, the telecommunications industry has been cool to a separate bill passed by the House Commerce Committee that gives the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission additional tools to restrict the sale of call records. The bill also requires that customers first give their permission before personal call data is used for marketing.
Rep. Bob Bishop (R-Utah) said on the House Floor Thursday that the House is expected to consider the House Commerce Committee bill next week The House Commerce Committee did not seem too concerned that the House had moved on the Judiciary Committee’s bill first, even though Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) had told reporters earlier this year that he expected the two bills to be combined before floor consideration.
“There is no need for them to be reconciled,” said a House staffer, who declined to be identified.
Similar bills are awaiting action in the Senate.
At the state level, the California state Senate also passed a bill banning pretexting. It would create civil fines of $500 or the actual damages plus legal fees, whichever is greater. If the victim can prove violation was willful, the fines would increase to a minimum of $3,000.
In addition to legislative action, the FCC recently proposed strengthening the protection of customer call records. Earlier this year, the commission began seeking comment on five specific measures proposed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center on the topic. Although the customer-call-records scandal erupted in early January following a segment aired on the CBS Evening News, EPIC first raised the issue last August. EPIC asked that the FCC implement rules to protect customers’ call records. The wireless industry opposed the EPIC petition.
