[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 174 (Tuesday, November 25, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S16004-S16006]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SPECTER (for himself and Mrs. Boxer):
  S. 1963. A bill to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to protect 
the privacy right of subscribers to wireless communication services; to 
the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Wireless 
Consumer Privacy Protection Act.
  As every Senator is aware, consumers today rely on their wireless 
telephones as a vital and important means of communication. Wireless 
telephones enable families to stay connected, permit commerce to be 
conducted anywhere at any time, and provide a vital link in the event 
of an emergency. Some people have even abandoned traditional telephones 
and now use their wireless phones as their primary phone service. In 
fact, just this month, the Federal Communications Commission began 
requiring number portability for wireless phones so that consumers, if 
they wish, can make their wireless phone their only phone.
  The wireless industry is on the verge of introducing a ``wireless 
white pages'' service, and though this step could have positive 
benefits, it raises concerns about how consumers' expectation of 
privacy will be protected. The

[[Page S16005]]

legislation I am introducing today along with Senator Boxer ensures 
that consumers expectations will be preserved.
  An important reason that Americans increasingly trust their cell 
phone service is that they have a great deal of privacy on their cell 
phone numbers. For more than 20 years of cellular service, consumers 
have become accustomed to not having their wireless phone numbers 
available to the public. The protection of wireless telephone number is 
important. For example, wireless customers are typically charged for 
incoming calls. Without protections for wireless numbers, subscribers 
could incur large bills, or use up their allotted minutes of use, 
simply by receiving calls they do not want--from telemarketers and 
others. Because consumers often take their cell phones with them 
everywhere, repeated unwanted calls are particularly disruptive, and 
may even present safety concerns for those behind the wheel.
  It may surprise my colleagues that today, no federal or state law or 
regulation prohibits a carrier from divulging your wireless telephone 
number. And with the industry poised to introduce wireless director 
assistance services, it is important for Congress to act now to 
preserve the expectation of privacy that consumers have in their 
wireless phone numbers. Because wireless directory assistance offer 
great benefits as well as posing significant privacy concerns, the 
legislation I am introducing today strikes an important balance. It 
enables those consumers who want to be reached to be accessible, while 
providing privacy protections that are important to consumers.
  First, this legislation permits wireless subscribers to choose not to 
be listed in wireless directory assistance databases. This feature 
gives consumers the ultimate ability to keep their numbers entirely 
private. Second, for those in the directory assistance database, the 
bill requires wireless providers to use systems that give users privacy 
protections and control over the use of their wireless numbers. These 
services must not divulge a subscriber's wireless number (unless the 
subscriber consents to disclosure), the service must provide 
identifying information to the wireless subscriber so that the 
subscriber knows who is calling through the forwarding service, and the 
service must give a subscriber the option of rejecting or accepting 
each incoming call. Finally, this legislation prohibits wireless 
carriers from charging any special fees to consumers who wish to 
receive the privacy protections provided by the bill. Customers should 
not have to pay extra for the privacy protections that they have come 
to expect. There should be no ``privacy tax'' for consumers to continue 
the privacy protection they have long enjoyed, and this bill ensures 
that will be the case.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important 
legislation. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of 
the bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1963

       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 in formation 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

[[Page S16006]]

     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.''.

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I am pleased to join Senator Specter in 
introducing the Wireless 411 Privacy Act of 2003.
  About 150 million Americans subscribe to wireless telephone service. 
They rely on wireless service to stay in touch with friends, family, 
and the workplace. As a cellular phone user myself, I value the privacy 
of my wireless number. I want to have control over who can reach me on 
my cell phone.
  However, the wireless phone industry is planning to list customers in 
a wireless phone directory starting sometime next year. The Specter-
Boxer bill would protect consumers by providing them with the right not 
to have their cell phone number listed in the directory and the right 
not to be charged a fee for being unlisted.
  As we saw with the strong consumer support for the right to keep a 
cell phone when you switch carriers, consumers consider their cell 
phone number their property. It is not the property of the carrier to 
hand out to whomever the carrier wishes, and the carrier should not be 
allowed to charge consumers for the right to keep that number private.
  This is especially important when you consider that wireless users 
pay for both their incoming and outgoing calls. Having your number 
listed could easily lead to receiving calls that you did not want but 
for which you will have to pay. That seems wrong to me.
  To date, the wireless phone industry has been unclear on how they 
will address these valid concerns when they move forward with their 
directory plans next year. To avoid any confusion or uncertainty, 
Congress must make clear to the cell phone companies that the rights of 
consumers to keep their cell phone numbers private is paramount.
                                 ______