The Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act of 2006 (H109-4709,) prohibits
pretexting
Pretexting is a type of social engineering attack that involves a situation, or pretext, created by an attacker in order to lure a victim into a vulnerable situation and to trick them into giving private information, specifically information that t ...
to buy, sell or obtain personal phone records, except when conducted by law enforcement or intelligence agencies. The recent bill threatens up to 10 years in
prison
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...
to anyone pretending to be someone else, or otherwise employs fraudulent tactics to persuade phone companies to hand over confidential information about their customers.
Before the law was passed, it was only illegal in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
to use pretexting to obtain financial records about someone via the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. In California, it was already illegal to use pretexting to obtain phone records, but most
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
s and consumer advocacy groups pleaded for a federal bill to be passed. Sale of the fraudulent material was widespread because the possibility of criminal prosecution was non-existent.
The bill was presented to the President on January 3, 2007.
It is likely that the law was passed at least partially in response to the
HP pretexting scandal.
See also
*
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
References
{{Reflist, 2
External links
Govtrack: H109-4709Bush Signs Bill to Protect Phone Records
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
, 13 January 2006, retrieved 17 January 2006.
United States federal communications legislation
United States federal privacy legislation
Acts of the 109th United States Congress