WASHINGTON-The House Commerce Committee last week quickly passed a bill making the sale of telecommunications customer call records illegal. The bill also gives the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission added tools to restrict the sale of call records, and requires that customers first give their permission before their personal call data is used for marketing.
Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), chairman of the House Commerce Committee, told reporters that he hopes to pass a finished bill to President Bush within a few months.
Separately, the House Judiciary Committee recently passed a bill criminalizing pretexting-impersonating a customer to obtain call records. Barton said he expects the two bills to be combined before the full House votes on the issue.
The wireless industry expressed reservations about the bill.
“Verizon Wireless supports federal legislation that focuses on the behavior of the pretexters and data brokers, and criminalizes the sale of cell-phone records. We appreciate the issues raised by the House Commerce Committee, however we have concerns with the direction of the bill. We continue to believe that the bills passed by the House and Senate Judiciary Committees provide a good framework for bringing an end to this behavior. It’s important that Congress protect consumers without unduly regulating customer service and marketing practices of service providers, as these legitimate activities have not been identified as a source of the pretexting problem,” said Verizon Wireless.
In the only amendment offered during the House Commerce Committee consideration, customers would be required to give permission for their cell-phone numbers to be listed in a wireless phone directory. Some in the industry support creating a 411 directory for wireless phone numbers, but privacy advocates have pushed for Congress to act before the directory can be created.
The wireless industry has been split on whether to create a 411 mobile-phone directory. Verizon Wireless was the first to split from the industry, saying it would not participate.
Sprint Nextel Corp. said the 411 amendment appeared overly broad.
“The amendment was brought up at the last minute, so we haven’t had time to study its full impact. But on its face, it appears to be overly broad and applicable to carrier policies and procedures beyond wireless directory assistance,” said Bill Barloon, Sprint Nextel’s vice president of government affairs.
Cingular Wireless L.L.C. has said it is exploring the 411 directory as a potential offering for its customers. The nation’s largest wireless carrier had no immediate comment on the impact of the 411 amendment. According to its privacy policy, Cingular would have its customers first give permission before being included in a directory.
Alltel Corp. is studying the amendment and said it supports opt-in procedures for wireless 411 listings.
In addition, the House Commerce Committee agreed to hire a consultant to assist the House Commerce oversight & investigations subcommittee staff with the ongoing investigation of data brokers and the sale of cell-phone records. Barton said it was unusual but not unprecedented to hire an outside consultant.
Similar legislation is also winding its way through the Senate. The Senate Judiciary Committee has passed legislation on the topic, and several other bills are pending in the Senate. Several states also have legislation and criminal investigations pending.
In addition to legislative action, the FCC recently proposed strengthening the protection of customer call records. Last month, the commission began seeking comment on five specific measures proposed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center on the topic. Although the customer-call-records scandal erupted in early January following a segment aired on the CBS Evening News, EPIC first raised the issue last August. EPIC asked that the FCC implement rules to protect customers’ call records. The wireless industry opposed the EPIC petition.
