[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2178 Reported in Senate (RS)]
Calendar No. 368
109th CONGRESS
2nd Session
S. 2178
To make the stealing and selling of telephone records a criminal
offense.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 18, 2006
Mr. Schumer (for himself, Mr. Specter, Mr. Nelson of Florida, Mr.
Burns, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Reid, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Dorgan, Ms. Cantwell, Mr.
Bayh, Mr. Kerry, Mr. DeWine, Mrs. Boxer, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Levin, Mr.
Lautenberg, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Kyl, Mr. Bingaman, Mr. Kohl, Mr. Stevens,
Mr. Durbin, Mr. Coleman, Mr. Santorum, and Mr. Coburn) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
the Judiciary
March 2, 2006
Reported by Mr. Specter, without amendment
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To make the stealing and selling of telephone records a criminal
offense.
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 data;
(2) many call logs reveal the names of telephone users'
doctors, public and private relationships, business associates,
and more;
(3) although other personal information such as social
security numbers may appear on public documents, which can be
accessed by data brokers, the only warehouse of telephone
records is located at the phone companies themselves;
(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. FRAUD AND RELATED ACTIVITY IN CONNECTION WITH OBTAINING
CONFIDENTIAL PHONE RECORDS INFORMATION FROM A COVERED
ENTITY.
Chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting
after section 1038 the following:
``SEC. 1039. FRAUD AND RELATED ACTIVITY IN CONNECTION WITH OBTAINING
CONFIDENTIAL PHONE RECORDS INFORMATION FROM A COVERED
ENTITY.
``(a) Criminal Violation.--Whoever obtains, or attempts to obtain,
confidential phone records information from a covered entity, without
authorization from the customer to whom such confidential phone records
information relates, by knowingly and intentionally--
``(1) making false or fraudulent statements or
representations to an employee of a covered entity;
``(2) making such statements or representations to a
customer of a covered entity;
``(3) providing false documentation to a covered entity
knowing that such document is false; or
``(4) accessing customer accounts of a covered entity via
the Internet;
shall, for each such occurrence, be fined in accordance with this
title, imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both.
``(b) Prohibition on Sale of Confidential Phone Records
Information.--Except as otherwise provided by applicable law, any
person, including any employee of a covered entity or any data broker,
who knowingly and intentionally sells, or attempts to sell,
confidential phone records information from a covered entity, without
authorization from the customer to whom such confidential phone records
information relates, shall be fined in accordance with this title,
imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both.
``(c) Enhanced Penalties for Aggravated Cases.--Whoever violates,
or attempts to violate, subsection (a) 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 covered
entity, in a 12-month period shall be fined twice the amount provided
in subsection (b)(3) or (c)(3) (as the case may be) of section 3571 of
this title, imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or both.
``(d) Nonapplicability to Law Enforcement Agencies.--Subsection (a)
shall be construed so as to not prevent any action by a law enforcement
agency, or any officer, employee, or agent of such agency, to obtain
confidential phone records information from a covered entity in
connection with the performance of the official duties of the agency,
in accordance with other applicable laws.
``(e) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Confidential phone records information.--The term
`confidential phone records information' means--
``(A) information that--
``(i) relates to the quantity, technical
configuration, type, destination, location, and
amount of use of a service offered by a covered
entity subscribed to by any customer of that
covered entity; and
``(ii) is made available to a covered
entity by a customer solely by virtue of the
relationship between the covered entity and the
customer; and
``(B) information contained in any bill related to
the product or service offered by a covered entity and
received by any customer of the covered entity.
``(2) Covered entity.--The term `covered entity'--
``(A) has the same meaning given the term
`telecommunications carrier' in section 3 of the
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153); and
``(B) includes any provider of IP-enabled voice
service.
``(3) Customer.--The term `customer' means, with respect to
a covered entity, any person, or authorized representative of a
person, to whom the covered entity provides a product or
service.
``(4) Document.--The term `document' means any information
in any form.
``(5) IP-enabled voice service.--The term `IP-enabled voice
service' means the provision of real-time 2-way voice
communications offered to the public, or such class of users as
to be effectively available to the public, transmitted through
customer premises equipment using TCP/IP protocol, or a
successor protocol, for a fee (whether part of a bundle of
services or separately) with 2-way interconnection capability
such that the service can originate traffic to, and terminate
traffic from, a public switched telephone network.''.
Calendar No. 368
109th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2178
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To make the stealing and selling of telephone records a criminal
offense.
_______________________________________________________________________
March 2, 2006
Reported without amendment