[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1963 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1963

 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to protect the privacy rights 
          of subscribers to wireless communications services.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 25, 2003

Mr. Specter (for himself and Mrs. Boxer) introduced the following bill; 
    which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to protect the privacy rights 
          of subscribers to wireless communications services.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Wireless 411 Privacy Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) there are roughly 150 million wireless subscribers in 
        the United States, up from approximately 15 million subscribers 
        just a decade ago;
            (2) wireless phone service has proven valuable to millions 
        of Americans because of its mobility, and the fact that 
        government policies have expanded opportunities for new 
        carriers to enter the market, offering more choices and ever 
        lower prices for consumers;
            (3) in addition to the benefits of competition and 
        mobility, subscribers also benefit from the fact that wireless 
        phone numbers have not been publicly available;
            (4) up until now, the privacy of wireless subscribers has 
        been safeguarded and thus vastly diminished the likelihood of 
        subscribers receiving unwanted or annoying phone call 
        interruptions on their wireless phones;
            (5) moreover, because their wireless contact information, 
        such as their phone number, have never been publicly available 
        in any published directory or from any directory assistance 
        service, subscribers have come to expect that if their phone 
        rings it's likely to be a call from someone to whom they have 
        personally given their number;
            (6) the wireless industry is poised to begin implementing a 
        directory assistance service so that callers can reach wireless 
        subscribers, including subscribers who have not given such 
        callers their wireless phone number;
            (7) while some wireless subscribers may find such directory 
        assistance service useful, current subscribers deserve the 
        right to choose whether they want to participate in such a 
        directory;
            (8) because wireless users are typically charged for 
        incoming calls, consumers must be afforded the ability to 
        maintain the maximum amount of control over how many calls they 
        may expect to receive and, in particular, control over the 
        disclosure of their wireless phone number;
            (9) current wireless subscribers who elect to participate, 
        or new wireless subscribers who decline to be listed, in any 
        new wireless directory assistance service directory, including 
        those subscribers who also elect not to receive forwarded calls 
        from any wireless directory assistance service, should not be 
        charged for exercising such rights;
            (10) the marketplace has not yet adequately explained an 
        effective plan to protect consumer privacy rights;
            (11) Congress previously acted to protect the wireless 
        location information of subscribers by enacting prohibitions on 
        the disclosure of such sensitive information without the 
        express prior authorization of the subscriber; and
            (12) the public interest would be served by similarly 
        enacting effective and industry-wide privacy protections for 
        consumers with respect to wireless directory assistance 
        service.

SEC. 3. CONSUMER CONTROL OF WIRELESS PHONE NUMBERS.

    Section 332(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 332(c)) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(9) Wireless consumer privacy protection.--
                    ``(A) Current subscribers.--A provider of 
                commercial mobile services, or any direct or indirect 
                affiliate or agent of such a provider, may not include 
                the wireless telephone number information of any 
                current subscriber in any wireless directory assistance 
                service database unless--
                            ``(i) the mobile service provider provides 
                        a conspicuous, separate notice to the 
                        subscriber informing the subscriber of the 
                        right not to be listed in any wireless 
                        directory assistance service; and
                            ``(ii) the mobile service provider obtains 
                        express prior authorization for listing from 
                        such subscriber, separate from any 
                        authorization obtained to provide such 
                        subscriber with commercial mobile service, or 
                        any calling plan or service associated with 
                        such commercial mobile service, and such 
                        authorization has not been subsequently 
                        withdrawn.
                    ``(B) New subscribers.--A provider of commercial 
                mobile services, or any direct or indirect affiliate or 
                agent of such a provider, may include the wireless 
                telephone number information of any new subscriber in a 
                wireless directory assistance service database only if 
                the commercial mobile service provider--
                            ``(i) provides a conspicuous, separate 
                        notice to the subscriber, at the time of 
                        entering into an agreement to provide 
                        commercial mobile service, and at least once 
                        each year thereafter, informing the subscriber 
                        of the right not to be listed in any wireless 
                        directory assistance service database; and
                            ``(ii) provides the subscriber with 
                        convenient mechanisms by which the subscriber 
                        may decline or refuse to participate in such 
                        database, including mechanisms at the time of 
                        entering into an agreement to provide 
                        commercial mobile service, in the billing of 
                        such service, and when receiving any connected 
                        call from a wireless directory assistance 
                        service.
                    ``(C) Call forwarding.--A provider of commercial 
                mobile services, or any direct or indirect affiliate or 
                agent of such provider, may connect a calling party 
                from a wireless directory assistance service to a 
                commercial mobile service subscriber only if--
                            ``(i) such subscriber is provided prior 
                        notice of the calling party's identity and is 
                        permitted to accept or reject the incoming call 
                        on a per-call basis;
                            ``(ii) such subscriber's wireless telephone 
                        number information is not disclosed to the 
                        calling party; and
                            ``(iii) such subscriber is not an unlisted 
                        commercial mobile service subscriber.
                    ``(D) Publication of directories prohibited.--A 
                provider of commercial mobile services, or any direct 
                or indirect affiliate or agent of such a provider, may 
                not publish, in printed, electronic, or other form, the 
                contents of any wireless directory assistance service 
                database, or any portion or segment thereof.
                    ``(E) No consumer fee for retaining privacy.--A 
                provider of commercial mobile services may not charge 
                any subscriber for exercising any of the rights under 
                this paragraph.
                    ``(F) Definitions.--For purposes of this 
                paragraph--
                            ``(i) the term `current subscriber' means 
                        any subscriber to commercial mobile service as 
                        of the date when a wireless directory 
                        assistance service is implemented by a provider 
                        of commercial mobile service;
                            ``(ii) the term `new subscriber' means any 
                        subscriber to commercial mobile service who 
                        becomes a subscriber after the date when a 
                        wireless directory assistance service is 
                        implemented by a provider of commercial mobile 
                        service, and includes any subscriber of a 
                        different provider of commercial mobile service 
                        who subsequently switches to a new provider of 
                        commercial mobile service;
                            ``(iii) the term `wireless telephone number 
                        information' means the telephone number, 
                        electronic address, and any other identifying 
                        information by which a calling party may reach 
                        a subscriber to commercial mobile services, and 
                        which is assigned by a commercial mobile 
                        service provider to such subscriber, and 
                        includes such subscriber's name and address;
                            ``(iv) the term `wireless directory 
                        assistance service' means any service for 
                        connecting calling parties to a subscriber of 
                        commercial mobile service when such calling 
                        parties themselves do not possess such 
                        subscriber's wireless telephone number 
                        information; and
                            ``(v) the term `calling party's identity' 
                        means the telephone number of the calling party 
                        or the name of subscriber to such telephone, or 
                        an oral or text message which provides 
                        sufficient information to enable a commercial 
                        mobile services subscriber to determine who is 
                        calling;
                            ``(vi) the term `unlisted commercial mobile 
                        services subscriber' means--
                                    ``(I) a current subscriber to 
                                commercial mobile services who has not 
                                provided express prior consent to a 
                                commercial mobile service provider to 
                                be included in a wireless directory 
                                assistance service database; and
                                    ``(II) a new subscriber to 
                                commercial mobile service who has 
                                exercised the right contained in 
                                subparagraph (B)(ii) to decline or 
                                refuse to such inclusion.''.
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