IB 

Union Calendar No. 215 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4709 

[Report No. 109–395] 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 8, 2006 

Mr. SMITH of Texas (for himself, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. SCOTT

of Virginia, Mr. CANNON, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, Mr. WILSON

of South Carolina, Ms. HERSETH, and Mr. REICHERT) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

MARCH 16, 2006 

Additional sponsors: Mr. CHABOT, Mr. CASE, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. BERMAN, 

Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. KLINE, and Mr. COSTELLO

MARCH 16, 2006 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 

and ordered to be printed 

A BILL 

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. 


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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 ‘‘Law Enforcement and 

5 Phone Privacy Protection Act of 2006’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

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

9 criminals because the information contained in call 

10 logs may include a wealth of personal data; 

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

12 users’ doctors, public and private relationships, busi13 ness associates, and more; 

14 (3) call logs are typically maintained for the ex15 clusive use of phone companies, their authorized 

16 agents, and authorized consumers; 

17 (4) telephone records have been obtained with18 out the knowledge or consent of consumers through 

19 the use of a number of fraudulent methods and de20 vices that include but are not limited to— 

21 (A) telephone company employees selling 

22 data to unauthorized data brokers; 

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

24 other person represents they are an authorized 


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1 consumer and convinces an agent of the tele2 phone company to release the data; or 

3 (C) gaining unauthorized Internet access 

4 to account data by improperly activating a con5 sumer’s account management features on a 

6 phone company’s webpage or contracting with 

7 an Internet-based data broker who trafficks in 

8 such records; and 

9 (5) the unauthorized disclosure of telephone 

10 records not only assaults individual privacy but, in 

11 some instances, may further acts of domestic vio12 lence, compromise the personal safety of law enforce13 ment officers, their families, or confidential inform14 ants, and undermine the integrity of law enforce15 ment investigations. 

16 SEC. 3. FRAUD AND RELATED ACTIVITY IN CONNECTION 

17 WITH OBTAINING CONFIDENTIAL PHONE 

18 RECORDS INFORMATION OF A COVERED EN19 TITY. 

20 Chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is amend21 ed by inserting after section 1038 the following: 


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1 ‘‘§ 1039. Fraud and related activity in connection 

2 with obtaining confidential phone 

3 records information of a covered entity 

4 ‘‘(a) CRIMINAL VIOLATION.—Whoever knowingly and 

5 intentionally obtains, or attempts to obtain, confidential 

6 phone records information of a covered entity, by— 

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

8 representations to an employee of a covered entity; 

9 ‘‘(2) making such false or fraudulent state10 ments or representations to a customer of a covered 

11 entity; 

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

13 knowing that such document is false or fraudulent; 

14 or 

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

16 entity via the Internet without prior authorization 

17 from the customer to whom such confidential 

18 records information relates; 

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

20 than 20 years, or both. 

21 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION ON SALE OR TRANSFER OF CON22 FIDENTIAL PHONE RECORDS INFORMATION.—Except as 

23 otherwise provided by applicable law, any person, includ24 ing any employee of a covered entity or any data broker, 

25 who knowingly and intentionally sells, transfers, or at26 tempts to sell or transfer, confidential phone records inforVerDate Aug 31 2005 21:54 Mar 16, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4709.RH H4709

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1 mation of a covered entity, without authorization from the 

2 customer to whom such confidential phone records infor3 mation relates, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned 

4 for not more than 5 years, or both. 

5 ‘‘(c) PROHIBITION ON PURCHASE OF PHONE

6 RECORDS INFORMATION.—Except as otherwise provided 

7 by applicable law, any person who purchases confidential 

8 phone records information of a covered entity, knowing 

9 such information was obtained fraudulently or without 

10 prior authorization from the customer to whom such con11 fidential records information relates, shall be fined under 

12 this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both. 

13 ‘‘(d) ENHANCED PENALTIES FOR AGGRAVATED

14 CASES.—Whoever violates, or attempts to violate, sub15 section (a) while violating another law of the United 

16 States or as part of a pattern of any illegal activity involv17 ing more than $100,000, or more than 50 customers of 

18 a covered entity, in a 12-month period shall, in addition 

19 to the penalties provided for in subsection (a), be fined 

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

21 (as the case may be) of section 3571 of this title, impris22 oned for not more than 5 years, or both. 

23 ‘‘(e) ENHANCED PENALTIES FOR USE OF INFORMA24 TION IN FURTHERANCE OF CERTAIN CRIMINAL OF25 FENSES.— 


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

2 subsection (a), (b), or (c) knowing that such infor3 mation may be used in furtherance of, or with the 

4 intent to commit, an offense described in section 

5 2261, 2261A, 2262, or any other crime of violence 

6 shall, in addition to the penalties provided for in 

7 subsection (a), (b), or (c), be fined under this title 

8 and imprisoned not more than 5 years. 

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

10 subsection (a), (b), or (c) knowing that such infor11 mation may be used in furtherance of, or with the 

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

13 1114, 1503, 1512, 1513, or to intimidate, threaten, 

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

15 law enforcement officer shall, in addition to the pen16 alties provided for in subsection (a), (b) or (c), be 

17 fined under this title and imprisoned not more than 

18 5 years. 

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

20 extraterritorrial jurisdiction over an offense under this 

21 section. 

22 ‘‘(g) NONAPPLICABILITY TO LAW ENFORCEMENT

23 AGENCIES.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to pre24 vent, hinder, or otherwise delay the production of con25 fidential phone records information from a covered entity 


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1 upon receipt of a lawful request from a law enforcement 

2 agency, or any officer, employee, or agent of such agency, 

3 in accordance with other applicable laws. 

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

5 ‘‘(1) CONFIDENTIAL PHONE RECORDS INFOR6 MATION.—The term ‘confidential phone records in7 formation’ means— 

8 ‘‘(A) information that— 

9 ‘‘(i) relates to the quantity, technical 

10 configuration, type, destination, location, 

11 or amount of use of a service offered by a 

12 covered entity subscribed to by any cus13 tomer of that covered entity; and 

14 ‘‘(ii) is made available to a covered 

15 entity by a customer solely by virtue of the 

16 relationship between the covered entity and 

17 the customer; or 

18 ‘‘(B) information contained in any bill, 

19 itemization, or account statement related to a 

20 product or service provided by a covered entity 

21 to any customer of the covered entity. 

22 ‘‘(2) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘covered en23 tity’— 

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

25 ‘telecommunications carrier’ in section 3 of the 


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

2 and 

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

4 voice service. 

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

6 with respect to a covered entity, any individual, part7 nership, association, joint stock company, trust, or 

8 corporation, or authorized representative of such 

9 customer, to whom the covered entity provides a 

10 product or service. 

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

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

13 real-time 2-way voice communications offered to the 

14 public, or such class of users as to be effectively 

15 available to the public, transmitted through cus16 tomer premises equipment using TCP/IP protocol, 

17 or a successor protocol, for a fee (whether part of 

18 a bundle of services or separately) with 2-way inter19 connection capability such that the service can origi20 nate traffic to, and terminate traffic from, a public 

21 switched telephone network.’’. 

22 SEC. 4. SENTENCING GUIDELINES. 

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

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

25 States Sentencing Commission, pursuant to its authority 


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

2 in accordance with this section, shall review and, if appro3 priate, amend the Federal sentencing guidelines and policy 

4 statements applicable to persons convicted of any offense 

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

6 (b) AUTHORIZATION.—The United States Sentencing 

7 Commission may amend the Federal sentencing guidelines 

8 in accordance with the procedures set forth in section 

9 21(a) of the Sentencing Act of 1987 (28 U.S.C. 994 note) 

10 as though the authority under that section had not ex11 pired. 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 215 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4709 

[Report No. 109

–395] 

A BILL 

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 

MARCH 16, 2006 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with BILLS