109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4709

AN ACT

To amend title 18, United States Code, to strengthen protections for law enforcement officers and the public by 

providing criminal penalties for the fraudulent acquisition 

or unauthorized disclosure of phone records.

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

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Telephone Records and 

3 Privacy Protection Act of 2006’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds that—

6 (1) telephone records can be of great use to 

7 criminals because the information contained in call 

8 logs may include a wealth of personal data; 

9 (2) call logs may reveal the names of telephone 

10 users’ doctors, public and private relationships, busi11 ness associates, and more; 

12 (3) call logs are typically maintained for the ex13 clusive use of phone companies, their authorized 

14 agents, and authorized consumers; 

15 (4) telephone records have been obtained with16 out the knowledge or consent of consumers through 

17 the use of a number of fraudulent methods and de18 vices that include—

19 (A) telephone company employees selling 

20 data to unauthorized data brokers; 

21 (B) ‘‘pretexting’’, whereby a data broker or 

22 other person represents that they are an au23 thorized consumer and convinces an agent of 

24 the telephone company to release the data; or 

25 (C) gaining unauthorized Internet access 

26 to account data by improperly activating a con-
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1 sumer’s account management features on a 

2 phone company’s webpage or contracting with 

3 an Internet-based data broker who trafficks in 

4 such records; and 

5 (5) the unauthorized disclosure of telephone 

6 records not only assaults individual privacy but, in 

7 some instances, may further acts of domestic vio8 lence or stalking, compromise the personal safety of 

9 law enforcement officers, their families, victims of 

10 crime, witnesses, or confidential informants, and un11 dermine the integrity of law enforcement investiga12 tions. 

13 SEC. 3. FRAUD AND RELATED ACTIVITY IN CONNECTION 

14 WITH OBTAINING CONFIDENTIAL PHONE 

15 RECORDS INFORMATION OF A COVERED EN16 TITY. 

17 (a) OFFENSE.—Chapter 47 of title 18, United States 

18 Code, is amended by inserting after section 1038 the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘§ 1039. Fraud and related activity in connection 

21 with obtaining confidential phone 

22 records information of a covered entity 

23 ‘‘(a) CRIMINAL VIOLATION.—Whoever, in interstate 

24 or foreign commerce, knowingly and intentionally obtains, 
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1 or attempts to obtain, confidential phone records informa2 tion of a covered entity, by—

3 ‘‘(1) making false or fraudulent statements or 

4 representations to an employee of a covered entity; 

5 ‘‘(2) making such false or fraudulent state6 ments or representations to a customer of a covered 

7 entity; 

8 ‘‘(3) providing a document to a covered entity 

9 knowing that such document is false or fraudulent; 

10 or 

11 ‘‘(4) accessing customer accounts of a covered 

12 entity via the Internet, or by means of conduct that 

13 violates section 1030 of this title, without prior au14 thorization from the customer to whom such con15 fidential phone records information relates; 

16 shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more 

17 than 10 years, or both. 

18 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION ON SALE OR TRANSFER OF CON19 FIDENTIAL PHONE RECORDS INFORMATION.—

20 ‘‘(1) Except as otherwise permitted by applica21 ble law, whoever, in interstate or foreign commerce, 

22 knowingly and intentionally sells or transfers, or at23 tempts to sell or transfer, confidential phone records 

24 information of a covered entity, without prior au25 thorization from the customer to whom such con-
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1 fidential phone records information relates, or know2 ing or having reason to know such information was 

3 obtained fraudulently, shall be fined under this title, 

4 imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both. 

5 ‘‘(2) For purposes of this subsection, the excep6 tions specified in section 222(d) of the Communica7 tions Act of 1934 shall apply for the use of confiden8 tial phone records information by any covered entity, 

9 as defined in subsection (h). 

10 ‘‘(c) PROHIBITION ON PURCHASE OR RECEIPT OF

11 CONFIDENTIAL PHONE RECORDS INFORMATION.—

12 ‘‘(1) Except as otherwise permitted by applica13 ble law, whoever, in interstate or foreign commerce, 

14 knowingly and intentionally purchases or receives, or 

15 attempts to purchase or receive, confidential phone 

16 records information of a covered entity, without 

17 prior authorization from the customer to whom such 

18 confidential phone records information relates, or 

19 knowing or having reason to know such information 

20 was obtained fraudulently, shall be fined under this 

21 title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both. 

22 ‘‘(2) For purposes of this subsection, the excep23 tions specified in section 222(d) of the Communica24 tions Act of 1934 shall apply for the use of confiden-
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1 tial phone records information by any covered entity, 

2 as defined in subsection (h). 

3 ‘‘(d) ENHANCED PENALTIES FOR AGGRAVATED

4 CASES.—Whoever violates, or attempts to violate, sub5 section (a), (b), or (c) while violating another law of the 

6 United States or as part of a pattern of any illegal activity 

7 involving more than $100,000, or more than 50 customers 

8 of a covered entity, in a 12-month period shall, in addition 

9 to the penalties provided for in such subsection, be fined 

10 twice the amount provided in subsection (b)(3) or (c)(3) 

11 (as the case may be) of section 3571 of this title, impris12 oned for not more than 5 years, or both. 

13 ‘‘(e) ENHANCED PENALTIES FOR USE OF INFORMA14 TION IN FURTHERANCE OF CERTAIN CRIMINAL OF15 FENSES.—

16 ‘‘(1) Whoever, violates, or attempts to violate, 

17 subsection (a), (b), or (c) knowing that such infor18 mation may be used in furtherance of, or with the 

19 intent to commit, an offense described in section 

20 2261, 2261A, 2262, or any other crime of violence 

21 shall, in addition to the penalties provided for in 

22 such subsection, be fined under this title and impris23 oned not more than 5 years. 

24 ‘‘(2) Whoever, violates, or attempts to violate, 

25 subsection (a), (b), or (c) knowing that such infor-
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1 mation may be used in furtherance of, or with the 

2 intent to commit, an offense under section 111, 115, 

3 1114, 1503, 1512, 1513, or to intimidate, threaten, 

4 harass, injure, or kill any Federal, State, or local 

5 law enforcement officer shall, in addition to the pen6 alties provided for in such subsection, be fined under 

7 this title and imprisoned not more than 5 years. 

8 ‘‘(f) EXTRATERRITORIAL JURISDICTION.—There is 

9 extraterritorial jurisdiction over an offense under this sec10 tion. 

11 ‘‘(g) NONAPPLICABILITY TO LAW ENFORCEMENT

12 AGENCIES.—This section does not prohibit any lawfully 

13 authorized investigative, protective, or intelligence activity 

14 of a law enforcement agency of the United States, a State, 

15 or political subdivision of a State, or of an intelligence 

16 agency of the United States. 

17 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

18 ‘‘(1) CONFIDENTIAL PHONE RECORDS INFOR19 MATION.—The term ‘confidential phone records in20 formation’ means information that—

21 ‘‘(A) relates to the quantity, technical con22 figuration, type, destination, location, or 

23 amount of use of a service offered by a covered 

24 entity, subscribed to by any customer of that 

25 covered entity, and kept by or on behalf of that 
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1 covered entity solely by virtue of the relation2 ship between that covered entity and the cus3 tomer; 

4 ‘‘(B) is made available to a covered entity 

5 by a customer solely by virtue of the relation6 ship between that covered entity and the cus7 tomer; or 

8 ‘‘(C) is contained in any bill, itemization, 

9 or account statement provided to a customer by 

10 or on behalf of a covered entity solely by virtue 

11 of the relationship between that covered entity 

12 and the customer. 

13 ‘‘(2) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘covered en14 tity’—

15 ‘‘(A) has the same meaning given the term 

16 ‘telecommunications carrier’ in section 3 of the 

17 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153); 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(B) includes any provider of IP-enabled 

20 voice service. 

21 ‘‘(3) CUSTOMER.—The term ‘customer’ means, 

22 with respect to a covered entity, any individual, part23 nership, association, joint stock company, trust, or 

24 corporation, or authorized representative of such 
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1 customer, to whom the covered entity provides a 

2 product or service. 

3 ‘‘(4) IP-ENABLED VOICE SERVICE.—The term 

4 ‘IP-enabled voice service’ means the provision of 

5 real-time voice communications offered to the public, 

6 or such class of users as to be effectively available 

7 to the public, transmitted through customer prem8 ises equipment using TCP/IP protocol, or a suc9 cessor protocol, (whether part of a bundle of services 

10 or separately) with interconnection capability such 

11 that the service can originate traffic to, or terminate 

12 traffic from, the public switched telephone network, 

13 or a successor network.’’. 

14 (b) CHAPTER ANALYSIS.—The table of sections for 

15 chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 

16 by adding after the item relating to section 1038 the fol17 lowing:

‘‘1039. Fraud and related activity in connection with obtaining confidential 

phone records information of a covered entity.’’.

18 SEC. 4. SENTENCING GUIDELINES. 

19 (a) REVIEW AND AMENDMENT.—Not later than 180 

20 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the United 

21 States Sentencing Commission, pursuant to its authority 

22 under section 994 of title 28, United States Code, and 

23 in accordance with this section, shall review and, if appro24 priate, amend the Federal sentencing guidelines and policy 
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1 statements applicable to persons convicted of any offense 

2 under section 1039 of title 18, United States Code. 

3 (b) AUTHORIZATION.—The United States Sentencing 

4 Commission may amend the Federal sentencing guidelines 

5 in accordance with the procedures set forth in section 

6 21(a) of the Sentencing Act of 1987 (28 U.S.C. 994 note) 

7 as though the authority under that section had not ex8 pired.

Passed the House of Representatives April 25, 2006. 

Attest:

Clerk. 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4709

AN ACT

To amend title 18, United States Code, to strengthof phone records. fraudulent acquisition or unauthorized disclosure the public by providing criminal penalties for the en protections for law enforcement officers and