[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4662 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4662

        To prohibit the obtaining of customer information from 
    telecommunications carriers by false pretenses, and the sale or 
        disclosure of such records obtained by false pretenses.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 31, 2006

 Mrs. Blackburn (for herself, Mr. Inslee, Mr. Dicks, Mr. Higgins, Mr. 
    Weiner, Mrs. Drake, Mr. Ross, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. 
Reichert, Mrs. Musgrave, Ms. Harris, Ms. Matsui, Mr. Gillmor, Mr. Gene 
Green of Texas, Mr. Pombo, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Kline, Ms. Carson, and Mr. 
Davis of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                  the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
        To prohibit the obtaining of customer information from 
    telecommunications carriers by false pretenses, and the sale or 
        disclosure of such records obtained by false pretenses.

    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 ``Consumer Telephone Records 
Protection Act of 2006''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) telephone records can be of great use to criminals 
        because the information contained in call logs listed in such 
        records include a wealth of personal information;
            (2) many call logs reveal the names of many users' doctors, 
        public and private relationships, business associates, and 
        more;
            (3) although other personal information, such as social 
        security numbers may appear in public documents, which can be 
        accessed by data brokers, the only warehouse of telephone 
        records is located at the telephone companies themselves; and
            (4) telephone records may be accessed without authorization 
        of the customer by--
                    (A) an employee of the telephone company selling 
                the data;
                    (B) ``pretexting'', whereby a data broker or other 
                person pretends to be the owner of the phone and 
                convinces the telephone company's employees to release 
                the data to them; or
                    (C) unauthorized access of accounts via the 
                Internet; and
            (5) because telephone companies encourage customers to 
        manage their accounts online, many set up the online capability 
        in advance. Many customers never access their Internet 
        accounts, however. If someone seeking the information activates 
        the account before the customer, he or she can gain unfettered 
        access to the telephone records and call logs of that customer.

SEC. 3. PRIVACY PROTECTION FOR CUSTOMER INFORMATION OF 
              TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIERS.

    (a) Prohibition on Obtaining Customer Information by False 
Pretenses.--It shall be unlawful for any person to obtain or attempt to 
obtain, or cause to be disclosed or attempt to cause to be disclosed to 
any person, customer proprietary network information relating to any 
other person by--
            (1) making a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or 
        representation to an officer, employee, or agent of a 
        telecommunications carrier; or
            (2) by providing, through any means including the Internet, 
        any document or other information to a telecommunications 
        carrier or an officer, employee, or agent of a 
        telecommunications carrier, knowing that the document or other 
        information is forged, counterfeit, lost, or stolen, was 
        obtained fraudulently or without the customer's consent, or 
        contains a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or 
        representation.
    (b) Prohibition on Solicitation of a Person to Obtain Customer 
Information Under False Pretenses.--It shall be unlawful to request a 
person to obtain customer proprietary network information of a 
telecommunications carrier, knowing that the person will obtain, or 
attempt to obtain, the information from the telecommunications carrier 
in the manner described in subsection (a).
    (c) Prohibition on Sale or Other Disclosure of Customer Information 
Obtained Under False Pretenses.--It shall be unlawful for any person to 
sell customer proprietary network information relating to any other 
person, knowing that such information was obtained in the manner 
described in subsection (a).
    (d) Nonapplicability to Law Enforcement Agencies.--No provision of 
this section shall be construed so as to prevent any action by a law 
enforcement agency, or any officer, employee, or agent of such agency, 
to obtain customer proprietary network information of a 
telecommunications carrier in connection with the performance of 
official duties of the agency.

SEC. 4. TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIER NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.

    Section 222 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 222) is 
amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (h) as subsection (i); and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (g) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(h) Notice of Violations.--The Commission shall by regulation 
require each telecommunications carrier to notify the customer of any 
incidents in which such telecommunications carrier becomes or is made 
aware in which customer proprietary network information relating to 
such customer is disclosed to someone other than the customer in 
violation of this section or section 3 of the Consumer Telephone 
Records Protection Act of 2006.''.

SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT BY THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.

    A violation of section 3 shall be treated as an unfair or deceptive 
act or practice in violation of section 5 of the Federal Trade 
Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45). All of the functions and powers of the 
Federal Trade Commission under that Act are available to the Commission 
to enforce compliance by any person with such section, irrespective of 
whether that person is engaged in commerce or meets any other 
jurisdictional tests in the Federal Trade Commission Act, including the 
power to enforce the provisions of such section in the same manner as 
if the violation had been a violation of a Federal Trade Commission 
trade regulation rule.

SEC. 6. CRIMINAL PENALTY.

    (a) In General.--Whoever knowingly and intentionally violates 
section 3 shall be fined in accordance with title 18, United States 
Code, or imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both.
    (b) Enhanced Penalties for Aggravated Cases.--Whoever violates 
section 3 while violating another law of the United States or as part 
of a pattern of any illegal activity involving more than $100,000, or 
more than 50 customers of a telecommunications carrier, in a 12-month 
period shall be fined twice the amount provided in section 3571 of 
title 18, or imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or both.

SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act, the following definitions apply:
            (1) Customer proprietary network information.--The term 
        ``customer proprietary network information'' has the meaning 
        given such term in section 222(h)(1) of the Communications Act 
        of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 222(h)(1)).
            (2) Telecommunications carrier.--The term 
        ``telecommunications carrier'' has the meaning given such term 
        in section 3(44) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 
        153(44)).
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