II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1350 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to protect the privacy rights 

of subscribers to wireless communications services. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 30, 2005 

Mr. SPECTER (for himself and Mrs. BOXER) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to protect the 

privacy rights of subscribers to wireless communications 

services.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wireless 411 Privacy 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 
2

•S 1350 IS

1 (1) there are roughly 150 million wireless sub2 scribers in the United States, up from approximately 

3 15 million subscribers just a decade ago; 

4 (2) wireless phone service has proven valuable 

5 to millions of Americans because of its mobility, and 

6 the fact that government policies have expanded op7 portunities for new carriers to enter the market, of8 fering more choices and ever lower prices for con9 sumers; 

10 (3) in addition to the benefits of competition 

11 and mobility, subscribers also benefit from the fact 

12 that wireless phone numbers have not been publicly 

13 available; 

14 (4) up until now, the privacy of wireless sub15 scribers has been safeguarded and thus vastly dimin16 ished the likelihood of subscribers receiving un17 wanted or annoying phone call interruptions on their 

18 wireless phones; 

19 (5) moreover, because their wireless contact in20 formation, such as their phone number, have never 

21 been publicly available in any published directory or 

22 from any directory assistance service, subscribers 

23 have come to expect that if their phone rings it’s 

24 likely to be a call from someone to whom they have 

25 personally given their number; 
3

•S 1350 IS

1 (6) the wireless industry is poised to begin im2 plementing a directory assistance service so that 

3 callers can reach wireless subscribers, including sub4 scribers who have not given such callers their wire5 less phone number; 

6 (7) while some wireless subscribers may find 

7 such directory assistance service useful, current sub8 scribers deserve the right to choose whether they 

9 want to participate in such a directory; 

10 (8) because wireless users are typically charged 

11 for incoming calls, consumers must be afforded the 

12 ability to maintain the maximum amount of control 

13 over how many calls they may expect to receive and, 

14 in particular, control over the disclosure of their 

15 wireless phone number; 

16 (9) current wireless subscribers who elect to 

17 participate, or new wireless subscribers who decline 

18 to be listed, in any new wireless directory assistance 

19 service directory, including those subscribers who 

20 also elect not to receive forwarded calls from any 

21 wireless directory assistance service, should not be 

22 charged for exercising such rights; 

23 (10) the marketplace has not yet adequately ex24 plained an effective plan to protect consumer privacy 

25 rights; 
4

•S 1350 IS

1 (11) Congress previously acted to protect the 

2 wireless location information of subscribers by enact3 ing prohibitions on the disclosure of such sensitive 

4 information without the express prior authorization 

5 of the subscriber; and 

6 (12) the public interest would be served by 

7 similarly enacting effective and industry-wide privacy 

8 protections for consumers with respect to wireless 

9 directory assistance service. 

10 SEC. 3. CONSUMER CONTROL OF WIRELESS PHONE NUM11 BERS. 

12 Section 332(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 

13 (47 U.S.C. 332(c)) is amended by adding at the end the 

14 following: 

15 ‘‘(9) WIRELESS CONSUMER PRIVACY PROTEC16 TION.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A provider of commer18 cial mobile services, or any direct or indirect af19 filiate or agent of such a provider, may not in20 clude the wireless telephone number informa21 tion of any subscriber in any wireless directory 

22 assistance service database unless— 

23 ‘‘(i) the mobile service provider pro24 vides a conspicuous, separate notice to the 

25 subscriber informing the subscriber of the 
5

•S 1350 IS

1 right not to be listed in any wireless direc2 tory assistance service; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) the mobile service provider ob4 tains express prior authorization for listing 

5 from such subscriber, separate from any 

6 authorization obtained to provide such sub7 scriber with commercial mobile service, or 

8 any calling plan or service associated with 

9 such commercial mobile service, and such 

10 authorization has not been subsequently 

11 withdrawn. 

12 ‘‘(B) COST-FREE DE-LISTING.—A provider 

13 of commercial mobile services, or any direct or 

14 indirect affiliate or agent of such a provider, 

15 shall remove the wireless telephone number in16 formation of any subscriber from any wireless 

17 directory assistance service database upon re18 quest by that subscriber and without any cost 

19 to the subscriber. 

20 ‘‘(C) WIRELESS ACCESSIBILITY.—A pro21 vider of commercial mobile services, or any di22 rect or indirect affiliate or agent of such pro23 vider, may connect a calling party from a wire24 less directory assistance service to a commercial 

25 mobile service subscriber only if— 
6

•S 1350 IS

1 ‘‘(i) such subscriber is provided prior 

2 notice of the calling party’s identity and is 

3 permitted to accept or reject the incoming 

4 call on a per-call basis; 

5 ‘‘(ii) such subscriber’s wireless tele6 phone number information is not disclosed 

7 to the calling party; and 

8 ‘‘(iii) such subscriber has not declined 

9 or refused to participate in such database. 

10 ‘‘(D) PROTECTION OF WIRELESS PHONE

11 NUMBERS.—A telecommunications carrier shall 

12 not disclose in its billing information provided 

13 to customers wireless telephone number infor14 mation of subscribers who have indicated a 

15 preference to their commercial mobile services 

16 provider for not having their wireless telephone 

17 number information disclosed. Notwithstanding 

18 the preceding sentence, a telecommunications 

19 carrier may disclose a portion of the wireless 

20 telephone number in its billing information if 

21 the actual number cannot be readily 

22 ascertained. 

23 ‘‘(E) PUBLICATION OF DIRECTORIES PRO24 HIBITED.—A provider of commercial mobile 

25 services, or any direct or indirect affiliate or 
7

•S 1350 IS

1 agent of such a provider, may not publish, in 

2 printed, electronic, or other form, or sell or oth3 erwise disseminate, the contents of any wireless 

4 directory assistance service database, or any 

5 portion or segment thereof unless— 

6 ‘‘(i) the mobile service provider pro7 vides a conspicuous, separate notice to the 

8 subscriber informing the subscriber of the 

9 right not to be listed; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) the mobile service provider ob11 tains express prior authorization for listing 

12 from such subscriber, separate from any 

13 authorization obtained to provide such sub14 scriber with commercial mobile service, or 

15 any calling plan or service associated with 

16 such commercial mobile service, and such 

17 authorization has not been subsequently 

18 withdrawn. 

19 ‘‘(F) NO CONSUMER FEE FOR RETAINING

20 PRIVACY.—A provider of commercial mobile 

21 services may not charge any subscriber for exer22 cising any of the rights under this paragraph. 

23 ‘‘(G) STATE AND LOCAL LAWS PRE24 EMPTED.—To the extent that any State or local 

25 government imposes requirements on providers 
8

•S 1350 IS

1 of commercial mobile services, or any direct or 

2 indirect affiliate or agent of such providers, 

3 that are inconsistent with the requirements of 

4 this paragraph, this paragraph preempts such 

5 State or local requirements. 

6 ‘‘(H) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(i) CALLING PARTY’S IDENTITY.—

8 The term ‘calling party’s identity’ means 

9 the telephone number of the calling party 

10 or the name of subscriber to such tele11 phone, or an oral or text message which 

12 provides sufficient information to enable a 

13 commercial mobile services subscriber to 

14 determine who is calling. 

15 ‘‘(ii) UNLISTED COMMERCIAL MOBILE

16 SERVICES SUBSCRIBER.—The term ‘un17 listed commercial mobile services sub18 scriber’ means a subscriber to commercial 

19 mobile services who has not provided ex20 press prior consent to a commercial mobile 

21 service provider to be included in a wireless 

22 directory assistance service database. 

23 ‘‘(iii) WIRELESS TELEPHONE NUMBER

24 INFORMATION.—The term ‘wireless tele25 phone number information’ means the tele-
9

•S 1350 IS

1 phone number, electronic address, and any 

2 other identifying information by which a 

3 calling party may reach a subscriber to 

4 commercial mobile services, and which is 

5 assigned by a commercial mobile service 

6 provider to such subscriber, and includes 

7 such subscriber’s name and address. 

8 ‘‘(iv) WIRELESS DIRECTORY ASSIST9 ANCE SERVICE.—The term ‘wireless direc10 tory assistance service’ means any service 

11 for connecting calling parties to a sub12 scriber of commercial mobile service when 

13 such calling parties themselves do not pos14 sess such subscriber’s wireless telephone 

15 number information.’’.

Æ