I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4943 

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 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Prevention of Fraudu5 lent Access to Phone Records Act’’. 


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1 TITLE I—FEDERAL TRADE 

2 COMMISSION PROVISIONS 

3 SEC. 101. FRAUDULENT ACCESS TO CUSTOMER TELE4 PHONE RECORDS. 

5 (a) PROHIBITION ON OBTAINING CUSTOMER INFOR6 MATION BY FALSE PRETENSES.—It shall be unlawful for 

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

8 be disclosed or attempt to cause to be disclosed to any 

9 person, customer proprietary network information relating 

10 to any other person by— 

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

12 statement or representation to an officer, employee, 

13 or agent of a telecommunications carrier; or 

14 (2) providing any document or other informa15 tion to an officer, employee, or agent of a tele16 communications carrier that the person knows or 

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

18 fraudulently obtained, or to contain a false, ficti19 tious, or fraudulent statement or representation. 

20 (b) PROHIBITION ON SOLICITATION OF A PERSON TO

21 OBTAIN CUSTOMER INFORMATION UNDER FALSE PRE22 TENSES.—It shall be unlawful to request a person to ob23 tain from a telecommunications carrier customer propri24 etary network information relating to any third person, 

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


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

2 will obtain or attempt to obtain such information in the 

3 manner described in subsection (a). 

4 (c) PROHIBITION ON SALE OR OTHER DISCLOSURE

5 OF CUSTOMER INFORMATION OBTAINED UNDER FALSE

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

7 or otherwise disclose to any person customer proprietary 

8 network information relating to any other person if the 

9 person selling or disclosing obtained such information in 

10 the manner described in subsection (a). 

11 SEC. 102. EXEMPTION. 

12 No provision of section 101 shall be construed so as 

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

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

15 or attempting to obtain customer proprietary network in16 formation from a telecommunications carrier in connection 

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

18 in accordance with other applicable laws. 

19 SEC. 103. ENFORCEMENT BY THE FEDERAL TRADE COM20 MISSION. 

21 A violation of section 101 shall be treated as a viola22 tion of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or prac23 tice prescribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal 

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

25 Federal Trade Commission shall enforce this title in the 


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1 same manner, by the same means, and with the same ju2 risdiction as though all applicable terms and provisions of 

3 the Federal Trade Commission Act were incorporated into 

4 and made a part of this title. 

5 SEC. 104. DEFINITIONS. 

6 As used in this title— 

7 (1) the term ‘‘customer proprietary network in8 formation’’ has the meaning given such term in sec9 tion 222(j)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934 

10 (47 U.S.C. 222(j)(1)) (as redesignated by section 

11 203 of this Act); 

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

13 (A) has the meaning given such term in 

14 section 3(44) of the Communications Act of 

15 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153(44)); and 

16 (B) includes any provider of real-time 

17 Internet protocol-enabled voice communications; 

18 and 

19 (3) the term ‘‘real-time Internet protocol-en20 abled voice communications’’ means any service that 

21 is treated by the Federal Communications Commis22 sion as a telecommunications service provided by a 

23 telecommunications carrier for purposes of section 

24 222 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 


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1 222) under regulations promulgated pursuant to 

2 subsection (h) of such section. 

3 TITLE II—FEDERAL COMMU4 NICATIONS COMMISSION 

5 PROVISIONS 

6 SEC. 201. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) As our Nation’s communications networks 

9 become more ubiquitous and increasingly sophisti10 cated, more individuals and industries will be using 

11 such networks in greater amounts to communicate 

12 and conduct commercial transactions. 

13 (2) The ease of gathering and compiling sen14 sitive personal information as a result of such com15 munications is becoming more efficient and common16 place due to advances in digital technology and the 

17 widespread use of the Internet. 

18 (3) Ensuring the privacy of sensitive individual 

19 telephone calling records, both wireline and wireless, 

20 is of utmost importance. The information gathered 

21 and retained by communications providers can con22 vey details about intimate aspects of an individual’s 

23 life, including who they call, when they call, the du24 ration of such calls, the frequency of their commu25 nications, information about their purchases, inforVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:18 Mar 15, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4943.IH H4943

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1 mational inquiries, political or religious interests, or 

2 other affiliations. 

3 (4) Disclosure of personal telephone records can 

4 also lead to harassment, intimidation, physical harm, 

5 and identity theft. 

6 (5) The government has a compelling interest 

7 in protecting sensitive personal information con8 tained in customer telephone records and ensuring 

9 that commercial interests adequately protect such 

10 records in order to preserve individual freedom, safe11 guard personal privacy, and ensure trust in elec12 tronic commerce. 

13 (6) Because customers have a proprietary inter14 est in their sensitive personal information, customers 

15 should have some control over the use and disclosure 

16 of telephone calling records. 

17 (7) A telecommunications carrier may use ag18 gregated data it has obtained from its customer 

19 databases to improve services, solicit new business, 

20 or market additional services to its customers. 

21 (8) A telecommunications carrier may commu22 nicate to all consumers in order to broadly solicit 

23 new business, and may also target specific commu24 nications to its own existing customers, without use 

25 or disclosure of detailed customer calling records 


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1 and thus without the threat of compromising cus2 tomer privacy. 

3 (9) The risk of compromising customer privacy 

4 is raised and increased whenever additional entities 

5 or persons are permitted use of, or access to, or re6 ceive disclosure of, customer calling records beyond 

7 the carrier with which the customer has an estab8 lished business relationship. 

9 (10) A telecommunications carrier which ob10 tains or possesses a customer’s calling records has a 

11 duty to safeguard the confidentiality of such cus12 tomer’s personal information. Detailed customer 

13 calling records describing the customer’s use of tele14 communications services should not be publicly avail15 able or offered for commercial sale. 

16 SEC. 202. EXPANDED PROTECTION FOR DETAILED CUS17 TOMER RECORDS. 

18 (a) CONFIDENTIALITY OF CUSTOMER INFORMA19 TION.—Paragraph (1) of section 222(c) of the Commu20 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 222(c)(1)) is amended 

21 to read as follows: 

22 ‘‘(1) PRIVACY REQUIREMENTS FOR TELE23 COMMUNICATIONS CARRIERS.— 

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

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1 sions of this paragraph, a telecommunications 

2 carrier that receives or obtains individually 

3 identifiable customer proprietary network infor4 mation (including detailed customer telephone 

5 records) by virtue of its provision of a tele6 communications service shall only use, disclose, 

7 or permit access to such information or records 

8 in the provision by such carrier of— 

9 ‘‘(i) the telecommunications service 

10 from which such information is derived; or 

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

12 the provision of such telecommunications 

13 service, including the publishing of direc14 tories. 

15 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS FOR DISCLOSURE OF

16 DETAILED INFORMATION.—A telecommuni17 cations carrier may only use detailed customer 

18 telephone records through, or disclose such 

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

20 a joint venture partner, independent contractor, 

21 or any other third party (other than an affil22 iate) if the customer has given express prior au23 thorization for that use, disclosure, or access, 

24 and that authorization has not been withdrawn. 


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1 ‘‘(C) REQUIREMENTS FOR AFFILIATE USE

2 OF BOTH GENERAL AND DETAILED INFORMA3 TION.—A telecommunications carrier may not, 

4 except with the approval of a customer, use in5 dividually identifiable customer proprietary net6 work information (including detailed customer 

7 telephone records) through, or disclose such in8 formation or records to, or permit access to 

9 such information or records by, an affiliate of 

10 such carrier in the provision by such affiliate of 

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

12 subparagraph (A). 

13 ‘‘(D) REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTNER AND

14 CONTRACTOR USE OF GENERAL INFORMA15 TION.—A telecommunications carrier may not, 

16 except with the approval of the customer, use 

17 individually identifiable customer proprietary 

18 network information (other than detailed cus19 tomer telephone records) through, or disclose 

20 such information to, or permit access to such 

21 information by, a joint venture partner or inde22 pendent contractor in the provision by such 

23 partner or contractor of the services described 

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


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1 ‘‘(E) ACCESS TO WIRELESS TELEPHONE

2 NUMBERS.—A telecommunications carrier may 

3 not, except with prior express authorization 

4 from the customer, disclose the wireless tele5 phone number of any customer or permit access 

6 to the wireless telephone number of any cus7 tomer.’’. 

8 (b) DISCLOSURE OF DETAILED INFORMATION ON

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

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

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

12 information’’. 

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

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

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

16 third party may be treated for purposes of this subsection 

17 as aggregation by the carrier if such aggregation is con18 ducted in a secure manner under the control or super19 vision of the carrier.’’. 

20 (d) PROHIBITION OF SALE OF GENERAL OR DE21 TAILED INFORMATION.—Section 222(c) of such Act is fur22 ther amended by adding at the end the following new para23 graph: 

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

25 DETAILED INFORMATION.—Except for the purposes 


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1 for which use, disclosure, or access is permitted 

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

3 person to sell, rent, lease, or otherwise make avail4 able for remuneration or other consideration the cus5 tomer proprietary network information (including 

6 the detailed customer telephone records) of any cus7 tomer.’’. 

8 (e) EXCEPTIONS TO LIMITATIONS ON DISCLOSURES

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

10 is amended— 

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

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

13 (2) in paragraph (1), by inserting after ‘‘tele14 communications services’’ the following: ‘‘, or pro15 vide customer service with respect to telecommuni16 cations services to which the customer subscribes’’. 

17 SEC. 203. PREVENTION BY TELECOMMUNICATIONS CAR18 RIERS OF FRAUDULENT ACCESS TO PHONE 

19 RECORDS. 

20 Section 222 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

21 U.S.C. 222) is further amended— 

22 (1) by redesignating subsection (h) as sub23 section (j); 

24 (2) by inserting after subsection (g) the fol25 lowing new subsections: 


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1 ‘‘(h) PREVENTION OF FRAUDULENT ACCESS TO

2 PHONE RECORDS.— 

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

4 date of enactment of the Prevention of Fraudulent 

5 Access to Phone Records Act, the Commission shall 

6 prescribe regulations adopting more stringent secu7 rity standards for customer proprietary network in8 formation (including detailed customer telephone 

9 records) to detect and prevent violations of this sec10 tion. The Commission— 

11 ‘‘(A) shall prescribe regulations— 

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

13 or electronic) to each customer upon 

14 breach of the regulations under this section 

15 with respect to customer proprietary net16 work information relating to that cus17 tomer; 

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

19 Commission upon breach of the regulations 

20 under this section with respect to customer 

21 proprietary network information relating to 

22 any customer; 

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

24 Commission of telecommunication carriers 


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1 and their agents to determine compliance 

2 with this section; 

3 ‘‘(iv) to require telecommunications 

4 carriers and their agents to maintain 

5 records— 

6 ‘‘(I) of each time customer pro7 prietary network information is re8 quested or accessed by, or disclosed 

9 to, a person purporting to be the cus10 tomer or to be acting at the request 

11 or direction of the customer; and 

12 ‘‘(II) if such access or disclosure 

13 was granted to such a person, of how 

14 the person’s identity or authority was 

15 verified; 

16 ‘‘(v) to require telecommunications 

17 carriers to establish a security policy that 

18 includes appropriate standards relating to 

19 administrative, technical, and physical 

20 safeguards to ensure the security and con21 fidentiality of customer proprietary net22 work information; 

23 ‘‘(vi) to prohibit any telecommuni24 cations carrier from obtaining or attempt25 ing to obtain, or causing to be disclosed or 


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1 attempting to cause to be disclosed to that 

2 carrier or its agent or employee, customer 

3 proprietary network information relating to 

4 any customer of another carrier— 

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

6 or fraudulent statement or representa7 tion to an officer, employee, or agent 

8 of another telecommunications carrier; 

9 or 

10 ‘‘(II) by making a false, ficti11 tious, or fraudulent statement or rep12 resentation to a customer of another 

13 telecommunications carrier; and 

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

15 section, to treat as a telecommunications 

16 service provided by a telecommunications 

17 carrier any real-time Internet protocol-en18 abled voice communications offered by any 

19 person to the public, or such classes of 

20 users as to be effectively available to the 

21 public, that allows a user to originate traf22 fic to, or terminate traffic from, the public 

23 switched telephone network; and 

24 ‘‘(B) shall consider prescribing regula25 tions— 


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1 ‘‘(i) to require telecommunications 

2 carriers to institute customer-specific iden3 tifiers in order to access customer propri4 etary network information; 

5 ‘‘(ii) to require encryption of customer 

6 proprietary network information data or 

7 other safeguards to better secure such 

8 data; and 

9 ‘‘(iii) to require deletion of customer 

10 proprietary network information data after 

11 a reasonable period of time if such data is 

12 no longer necessary for the purpose for 

13 which it was collected or for the purpose of 

14 an exception contained in section (d), and 

15 there are no pending requests for access to 

16 such information. 

17 ‘‘(2) REPORTS.— 

18 ‘‘(A) ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDA19 TIONS.—Within 12 months after the date on 

20 which the Commission’s regulations under para21 graph (1) are prescribed, and again not later 

22 than 3 years later, the Commission shall submit 

23 to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of 

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1 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor2 tation of the Senate a report containing— 

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

4 adequacy of the regulations and remedies 

5 provided in accordance with this subsection 

6 in protecting customer proprietary network 

7 information; 

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

9 adequacy of telecommunications carriers’ 

10 safeguards to secure such data, security 

11 plans, and notification procedures; and 

12 ‘‘(iii) any recommendations for addi13 tional legislative or regulatory action to ad14 dress threats to the privacy of customer in15 formation. 

16 ‘‘(B) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Federal 

17 Communications Commission shall submit to 

18 Congress an annual report containing— 

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

20 enforcement actions taken pursuant to this 

21 subsection; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) the number and type of notifica23 tions received under paragraph (1)(A)(ii) 

24 and the methodology, including the basis 

25 for the selection of carriers to be audited, 


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1 and the results of each audit conducted 

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

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

4 person that is treated as a telecommunications car5 rier providing a telecommunications service with re6 spect to the offering of real-time Internet protocol7 enabled voice communications by the regulations 

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

9 subject to the provisions of section 631 with respect 

10 to the offering of such communications. 

11 ‘‘(i) FORFEITURE PENALTIES.— 

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

13 which the violator is determined by the Commission 

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

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

16 shall be applied— 

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

18 ‘$100,000’; and 

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

20 ‘$1,000,000’. 

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

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

23 of forfeiture liability under such section with respect 

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1 under by any telecommunications carrier or any 

2 agent of such a carrier.’’; and 

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

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

5 SEC. 204. DEFINITIONS. 

6 Subsection (j) of section 222 of the Communications 

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

8 203(1) of this Act, is amended by adding at the end the 

9 following new paragraphs: 

10 ‘‘(8) DETAILED CUSTOMER TELEPHONE

11 RECORD.—The term ‘detailed customer telephone 

12 record’ means customer proprietary network infor13 mation that contains the specific and detailed des14 tinations, locations, duration, time, and date of tele15 communications to or from a customer, as typically 

16 contained in the bills for such service. Such term 

17 does not mean aggregate data or subscriber list in18 formation. 

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

20 term ‘wireless telephone number’ means the tele21 phone number of a subscriber to a commercial mo22 bile service.’’. 

Æ 


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