IB 

Union Calendar No. 217 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4943 

[Report No. 109–398] 

To prohibit fraudulent access to telephone records. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 14, 2006 

Mr. BARTON of Texas (for himself, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. UPTON, Mr. MARKEY, 

Mr. STEARNS, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. GENE GREEN of 

Texas, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. ROSS, Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico, Mr. 

BROWN of Ohio, Mr. FOSSELLA, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BUYER, Mrs. CAPPS, 

Mrs. BONO, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. WALDEN of Oregon, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. RUSH, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. GORDON, Mr. INSLEE, 

Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. LIPINSKI, and Mr. WILSON of South Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 

and Commerce 

MARCH 16, 2006 

Additional sponsor: Mr. SHADEGG

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 prohibit fraudulent access to telephone 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 ‘‘Prevention of Fraudu3 lent Access to Phone Records Act’’. 

4 TITLE I—FEDERAL TRADE 

5 COMMISSION PROVISIONS 

6 SEC. 101. FRAUDULENT ACCESS TO CUSTOMER TELE7 PHONE RECORDS. 

8 (a) PROHIBITION ON OBTAINING CUSTOMER INFOR9 MATION BY FALSE PRETENSES.—It shall be unlawful for 

10 any person to obtain or attempt to obtain, or cause to 

11 be disclosed or attempt to cause to be disclosed to any 

12 person, customer proprietary network information relating 

13 to any other person by— 

14 (1) making a false, fictitious, or fraudulent 

15 statement or representation to an officer, employee, 

16 or agent of a telecommunications carrier; or 

17 (2) providing any document or other informa18 tion to an officer, employee, or agent of a tele19 communications carrier that the person knows or 

20 should know to be forged, counterfeit, lost, stolen, or 

21 fraudulently obtained, or to contain a false, ficti22 tious, or fraudulent statement or representation. 

23 (b) PROHIBITION ON SOLICITATION OF A PERSON TO

24 OBTAIN CUSTOMER INFORMATION UNDER FALSE PRE25 TENSES.—It shall be unlawful to request a person to ob26 tain from a telecommunications carrier customer propriVerDate Aug 31 2005 20:22 Mar 20, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4943.RH H4943

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1 etary network information relating to any third person, 

2 if the person making such a request knew or should have 

3 known that the person to whom such a request is made 

4 will obtain or attempt to obtain such information in the 

5 manner described in subsection (a). 

6 (c) PROHIBITION ON SALE OR OTHER DISCLOSURE

7 OF CUSTOMER INFORMATION OBTAINED UNDER FALSE

8 PRETENSES.—It shall be unlawful for any person to sell 

9 or otherwise disclose to any person customer proprietary 

10 network information relating to any other person if the 

11 person selling or disclosing obtained such information in 

12 the manner described in subsection (a). 

13 SEC. 102. EXEMPTION. 

14 No provision of section 101 shall be construed so as 

15 to prevent any action by a law enforcement agency, or any 

16 officer, employee, or agent of such agency, from obtaining 

17 or attempting to obtain customer proprietary network in18 formation from a telecommunications carrier in connection 

19 with the performance of the official duties of the agency, 

20 in accordance with other applicable laws. 

21 SEC. 103. ENFORCEMENT BY THE FEDERAL TRADE COM22 MISSION. 

23 A violation of section 101 shall be treated as a viola24 tion of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or prac25 tice prescribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal 


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1 Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). The 

2 Federal Trade Commission shall enforce this title in the 

3 same manner, by the same means, and with the same ju4 risdiction as though all applicable terms and provisions of 

5 the Federal Trade Commission Act were incorporated into 

6 and made a part of this title. 

7 SEC. 104. DEFINITIONS. 

8 As used in this title— 

9 (1) the term ‘‘customer proprietary network in10 formation’’ has the meaning given such term in sec11 tion 222(j)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934 

12 (47 U.S.C. 222(j)(1)) (as redesignated by section 

13 203 of this Act); 

14 (2) the term ‘‘telecommunications carrier’’— 

15 (A) has the meaning given such term in 

16 section 3(44) of the Communications Act of 

17 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153(44)); and 

18 (B) includes any provider of real-time 

19 Internet protocol-enabled voice communications; 

20 and 

21 (3) the term ‘‘real-time Internet protocol-en22 abled voice communications’’ means any service that 

23 is treated by the Federal Communications Commis24 sion as a telecommunications service provided by a 

25 telecommunications carrier for purposes of section 


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1 222 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

2 222) under regulations promulgated pursuant to 

3 subsection (h) of such section. 

4 TITLE II—FEDERAL COMMU5 NICATIONS COMMISSION 

6 PROVISIONS 

7 SEC. 201. FINDINGS. 

8 The Congress finds the following: 

9 (1) As our Nation’s communications networks 

10 become more ubiquitous and increasingly sophisti11 cated, more individuals and industries will be using 

12 such networks in greater amounts to communicate 

13 and conduct commercial transactions. 

14 (2) The ease of gathering and compiling sen15 sitive personal information as a result of such com16 munications is becoming more efficient and common17 place due to advances in digital technology and the 

18 widespread use of the Internet. 

19 (3) Ensuring the privacy of sensitive individual 

20 telephone calling records, both wireline and wireless, 

21 is of utmost importance. The information gathered 

22 and retained by communications providers can con23 vey details about intimate aspects of an individual’s 

24 life, including who they call, when they call, the du25 ration of such calls, the frequency of their commuVerDate Aug 31 2005 20:22 Mar 20, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4943.RH H4943

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1 nications, information about their purchases, infor2 mational inquiries, political or religious interests, or 

3 other affiliations. 

4 (4) Disclosure of personal telephone records can 

5 also lead to harassment, intimidation, physical harm, 

6 and identity theft. 

7 (5) The government has a compelling interest 

8 in protecting sensitive personal information con9 tained in customer telephone records and ensuring 

10 that commercial interests adequately protect such 

11 records in order to preserve individual freedom, safe12 guard personal privacy, and ensure trust in elec13 tronic commerce. 

14 (6) Because customers have a proprietary inter15 est in their sensitive personal information, customers 

16 should have some control over the use and disclosure 

17 of telephone calling records. 

18 (7) A telecommunications carrier may use ag19 gregated data it has obtained from its customer 

20 databases to improve services, solicit new business, 

21 or market additional services to its customers. 

22 (8) A telecommunications carrier may commu23 nicate to all consumers in order to broadly solicit 

24 new business, and may also target specific commu25 nications to its own existing customers, without use 


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1 or disclosure of detailed customer calling records 

2 and thus without the threat of compromising cus3 tomer privacy. 

4 (9) The risk of compromising customer privacy 

5 is raised and increased whenever additional entities 

6 or persons are permitted use of, or access to, or re7 ceive disclosure of, customer calling records beyond 

8 the carrier with which the customer has an estab9 lished business relationship. 

10 (10) A telecommunications carrier which ob11 tains or possesses a customer’s calling records has a 

12 duty to safeguard the confidentiality of such cus13 tomer’s personal information. Detailed customer 

14 calling records describing the customer’s use of tele15 communications services should not be publicly avail16 able or offered for commercial sale. 

17 SEC. 202. EXPANDED PROTECTION FOR DETAILED CUS18 TOMER RECORDS. 

19 (a) CONFIDENTIALITY OF CUSTOMER INFORMA20 TION.—Paragraph (1) of section 222(c) of the Commu21 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 222(c)(1)) is amended 

22 to read as follows: 

23 ‘‘(1) PRIVACY REQUIREMENTS FOR TELE24 COMMUNICATIONS CARRIERS.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as required by 

2 law or as permitted under the following provi3 sions of this paragraph, a telecommunications 

4 carrier that receives or obtains individually 

5 identifiable customer proprietary network infor6 mation (including detailed customer telephone 

7 records) by virtue of its provision of a tele8 communications service shall only use, disclose, 

9 or permit access to such information or records 

10 in the provision by such carrier of— 

11 ‘‘(i) the telecommunications service 

12 from which such information is derived; or 

13 ‘‘(ii) services necessary to, or used in, 

14 the provision of such telecommunications 

15 service, including the publishing of direc16 tories. 

17 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS FOR DISCLOSURE OF

18 DETAILED INFORMATION.—A telecommuni19 cations carrier may only use detailed customer 

20 telephone records through, or disclose such 

21 records to, or permit access to such records by, 

22 a joint venture partner, independent contractor, 

23 or any other third party (other than an affil24 iate) if the customer has given express prior auVerDate Aug 31 2005 20:22 Mar 20, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4943.RH H4943

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1 thorization for that use, disclosure, or access, 

2 and that authorization has not been withdrawn. 

3 ‘‘(C) REQUIREMENTS FOR AFFILIATE USE

4 OF BOTH GENERAL AND DETAILED INFORMA5 TION.—A telecommunications carrier may not, 

6 except with the approval of a customer, use in7 dividually identifiable customer proprietary net8 work information (including detailed customer 

9 telephone records) through, or disclose such in10 formation or records to, or permit access to 

11 such information or records by, an affiliate of 

12 such carrier in the provision by such affiliate of 

13 the services described in clause (i) or (ii) of 

14 subparagraph (A). 

15 ‘‘(D) REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTNER AND

16 CONTRACTOR USE OF GENERAL INFORMA17 TION.—A telecommunications carrier may not, 

18 except with the approval of the customer, use 

19 individually identifiable customer proprietary 

20 network information (other than detailed cus21 tomer telephone records) through, or disclose 

22 such information to, or permit access to such 

23 information by, a joint venture partner or inde24 pendent contractor in the provision by such 


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1 partner or contractor of the services described 

2 in clause (i) or (ii) of subparagraph (A). 

3 ‘‘(E) ACCESS TO WIRELESS TELEPHONE

4 NUMBERS.—A telecommunications carrier may 

5 not, except with prior express authorization 

6 from the customer, disclose the wireless tele7 phone number of any customer or permit access 

8 to the wireless telephone number of any cus9 tomer.’’. 

10 (b) DISCLOSURE OF DETAILED INFORMATION ON

11 REQUEST BY CUSTOMER.—Section 222(c)(2) of such Act 

12 is amended by inserting ‘‘(including a detailed customer 

13 telephone record)’’ after ‘‘customer proprietary network 

14 information’’. 

15 (c) AGGREGATE DATA.—Section 222(c)(3) of such 

16 Act is amended by adding at the end the following new 

17 sentence: ‘‘Aggregation of data that is conducted by a 

18 third party may be treated for purposes of this subsection 

19 as aggregation by the carrier if such aggregation is con20 ducted in a secure manner under the control or super21 vision of the carrier.’’. 

22 (d) PROHIBITION OF SALE OF GENERAL OR DE23 TAILED INFORMATION.—Section 222(c) of such Act is fur24 ther amended by adding at the end the following new para25 graph: 


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1 ‘‘(4) PROHIBITION OF SALE OF GENERAL OR

2 DETAILED INFORMATION.—Except for the purposes 

3 for which use, disclosure, or access is permitted 

4 under subsection (d), it shall be unlawful for any 

5 person to sell, rent, lease, or otherwise make avail6 able for remuneration or other consideration the cus7 tomer proprietary network information (including 

8 the detailed customer telephone records) of any cus9 tomer.’’. 

10 (e) EXCEPTIONS TO LIMITATIONS ON DISCLOSURES

11 OF DETAILED INFORMATION.—Section 222(d) of such Act 

12 is amended— 

13 (1) by striking ‘‘its agents’’ and inserting ‘‘its 

14 joint venture partners, contractors, or agents’’; and 

15 (2) in paragraph (1), by inserting after ‘‘tele16 communications services’’ the following: ‘‘, or pro17 vide customer service with respect to telecommuni18 cations services to which the customer subscribes’’. 

19 SEC. 203. PREVENTION BY TELECOMMUNICATIONS CAR20 RIERS OF FRAUDULENT ACCESS TO PHONE 

21 RECORDS. 

22 Section 222 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

23 U.S.C. 222) is further amended— 

24 (1) by redesignating subsection (h) as sub25 section (j); 


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1 (2) by inserting after subsection (g) the fol2 lowing new subsections: 

3 ‘‘(h) PREVENTION OF FRAUDULENT ACCESS TO

4 PHONE RECORDS.— 

5 ‘‘(1) REGULATIONS.—Within 180 days after the 

6 date of enactment of the Prevention of Fraudulent 

7 Access to Phone Records Act, the Commission shall 

8 prescribe regulations adopting more stringent secu9 rity standards for customer proprietary network in10 formation (including detailed customer telephone 

11 records) to detect and prevent violations of this sec12 tion. The Commission— 

13 ‘‘(A) shall prescribe regulations— 

14 ‘‘(i) to require timely notice (written 

15 or electronic) to each customer upon 

16 breach of the regulations under this section 

17 with respect to customer proprietary net18 work information relating to that cus19 tomer; 

20 ‘‘(ii) to require timely notice to the 

21 Commission upon breach of the regulations 

22 under this section with respect to customer 

23 proprietary network information relating to 

24 any customer; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) to require periodic audits by the 

2 Commission of telecommunication carriers 

3 and their agents to determine compliance 

4 with this section; 

5 ‘‘(iv) to require telecommunications 

6 carriers and their agents to maintain 

7 records— 

8 ‘‘(I) of each time customer pro9 prietary network information is re10 quested or accessed by, or disclosed 

11 to, a person purporting to be the cus12 tomer or to be acting at the request 

13 or direction of the customer; and 

14 ‘‘(II) if such access or disclosure 

15 was granted to such a person, of how 

16 the person’s identity or authority was 

17 verified; 

18 ‘‘(v) to require telecommunications 

19 carriers to establish a security policy that 

20 includes appropriate standards relating to 

21 administrative, technical, and physical 

22 safeguards to ensure the security and con23 fidentiality of customer proprietary net24 work information; 


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1 ‘‘(vi) to prohibit any telecommuni2 cations carrier from obtaining or attempt3 ing to obtain, or causing to be disclosed or 

4 attempting to cause to be disclosed to that 

5 carrier or its agent or employee, customer 

6 proprietary network information relating to 

7 any customer of another carrier— 

8 ‘‘(I) by using a false, fictitious, 

9 or fraudulent statement or representa10 tion to an officer, employee, or agent 

11 of another telecommunications carrier; 

12 or 

13 ‘‘(II) by making a false, ficti14 tious, or fraudulent statement or rep15 resentation to a customer of another 

16 telecommunications carrier; and 

17 ‘‘(vii) only for the purposes of this 

18 section, to treat as a telecommunications 

19 service provided by a telecommunications 

20 carrier any real-time Internet protocol-en21 abled voice communications offered by any 

22 person to the public, or such classes of 

23 users as to be effectively available to the 

24 public, that allows a user to originate trafVerDate Aug 31 2005 20:22 Mar 20, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4943.RH H4943

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1 fic to, or terminate traffic from, the public 

2 switched telephone network; and 

3 ‘‘(B) shall consider prescribing regula4 tions— 

5 ‘‘(i) to require telecommunications 

6 carriers to institute customer-specific iden7 tifiers in order to access customer propri8 etary network information; 

9 ‘‘(ii) to require encryption of customer 

10 proprietary network information data or 

11 other safeguards to better secure such 

12 data; and 

13 ‘‘(iii) to require deletion of customer 

14 proprietary network information data after 

15 a reasonable period of time if such data is 

16 no longer necessary for the purpose for 

17 which it was collected or for the purpose of 

18 an exception contained in section (d), and 

19 there are no pending requests for access to 

20 such information. 

21 ‘‘(2) REPORTS.— 

22 ‘‘(A) ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDA23 TIONS.—Within 12 months after the date on 

24 which the Commission’s regulations under para25 graph (1) are prescribed, and again not later 


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1 than 3 years later, the Commission shall submit 

2 to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of 

3 the House of Representatives and the Com4 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor5 tation of the Senate a report containing— 

6 ‘‘(i) an assessment of the efficacy and 

7 adequacy of the regulations and remedies 

8 provided in accordance with this subsection 

9 in protecting customer proprietary network 

10 information; 

11 ‘‘(ii) an assessment of the efficacy and 

12 adequacy of telecommunications carriers’ 

13 safeguards to secure such data, security 

14 plans, and notification procedures; and 

15 ‘‘(iii) any recommendations for addi16 tional legislative or regulatory action to ad17 dress threats to the privacy of customer in18 formation. 

19 ‘‘(B) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Federal 

20 Communications Commission shall submit to 

21 Congress an annual report containing— 

22 ‘‘(i) the number and disposition of all 

23 enforcement actions taken pursuant to this 

24 subsection; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the number and type of notifica2 tions received under paragraph (1)(A)(ii) 

3 and the methodology, including the basis 

4 for the selection of carriers to be audited, 

5 and the results of each audit conducted 

6 under paragraph (1)(A)(iii). 

7 ‘‘(3) DUAL REGULATION PROHIBITED.—Any 

8 person that is treated as a telecommunications car9 rier providing a telecommunications service with re10 spect to the offering of real-time Internet protocol11 enabled voice communications by the regulations 

12 prescribed under paragraph (1)(A)(vii) shall not be 

13 subject to the provisions of section 631 with respect 

14 to the offering of such communications. 

15 ‘‘(i) FORFEITURE PENALTIES.— 

16 ‘‘(1) INCREASED PENALTIES.—In any case in 

17 which the violator is determined by the Commission 

18 under section 503(b)(1) to have violated this section 

19 or the regulations thereunder, section 503(b)(2)(B) 

20 shall be applied— 

21 ‘‘(A) by substituting ‘$300,000’ for 

22 ‘$100,000’; and 

23 ‘‘(B) by substituting ‘$3,000,000’ for 

24 ‘$1,000,000’. 


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1 ‘‘(2) NO FIRST WARNINGS.—Paragraph (5) of 

2 section 503(b) shall not apply to the determination 

3 of forfeiture liability under such section with respect 

4 to a violation of this section or the regulations there5 under by any telecommunications carrier or any 

6 agent of such a carrier.’’; and 

7 (3) in subsection (g), by striking ‘‘subsection 

8 (i)(3)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (j)(3)(A)’’. 

9 SEC. 204. DEFINITIONS. 

10 Subsection (j) of section 222 of the Communications 

11 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 222(j)), as redesignated by section 

12 203(1) of this Act, is amended by adding at the end the 

13 following new paragraphs: 

14 ‘‘(8) DETAILED CUSTOMER TELEPHONE

15 RECORD.—The term ‘detailed customer telephone 

16 record’ means customer proprietary network infor17 mation that contains the specific and detailed des18 tinations, locations, duration, time, and date of tele19 communications to or from a customer, as typically 

20 contained in the bills for such service. Such term 

21 does not mean aggregate data or subscriber list in22 formation. 

23 ‘‘(9) WIRELESS TELEPHONE NUMBER.—The 

24 term ‘wireless telephone number’ means the teleVerDate Aug 31 2005 20:22 Mar 20, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4943.RH H4943

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1 phone number of a subscriber to a commercial mo2 bile service.’’. 


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Union Calendar No. 217 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4943 

[Report No. 109

–398] 

A BILL 

To prohibit fraudulent access to telephone records. 

MARCH 16, 2006 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed 


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