II
109th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2177
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 18, 2006
Mr. Durbin introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To make the sale or fraudulent transfer of telephone records a criminal offense.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the
Phone Records Protection Act of
2006
.
Prohibition on sale or transfer of telephone records
In general
Title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after chapter 123 the following new chapter:
Telephone records
Sec.
2801. Prohibition on sale or transfer of telephone records.
Prohibition on sale or transfer of telephone records
Criminal violation
Whoever knowingly and intentionally sells or fraudulently transfers or uses, or attempts to sell or fraudulently transfer or use, the records of a customer of a telephone service provider shall be fined in accordance with this title, imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or both.
Nonapplicability to law enforcement agencies
Subsection (a) shall not prevent any action by a law enforcement agency, or any officer, employee, or agent of such agency, to obtain the records of a customer of a telephone service provider in connection with the performance of the official duties of the agency.
Exception for law enforcement requests
A telephone service provider, or any employee thereof, shall not be in violation of subsection (a) if such provider, upon request, transfers or otherwise provides to a law enforcement agency, or any officer, employee, or agent of such agency the records of a customer of such provider.
Definitions
In this section:
Records of a customer
The term records of a customer
means any
data or information associated with an individual contained in a database,
networked or integrated databases, or other data system of a telephone service
provider.
Telephone service
The term telephone service
—
has the same
meaning given the term telecommunications service
in section 3
of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153); and
includes any form of wireless telephone service, including—
cellular telephone service;
broadband
Personal Communication Service (PCS
) telephone service;
Covered
Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR
) service; and
any successor service to such service (including so-called next generation or third generation service).
Telephone service provider
The term telephone service
provider
has the same meaning given the term telecommunications
carrier
in section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.
153).
.
Amendment to part analysis
The table of chapters at the beginning of part I of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to chapter 123 the following new item:
| “124. Prohibition on sale of telephone records | 2801”. |