INSLEE, BLACKBURN INTRODUCE PRETEXTING BILL

摘要

A House bill has been introduced to outlaw pretexting, a practice that gained notoriety last year in the Hewlett- Packard scandal. The measure, introduced Wed. by Reps. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), would make it illegal to obtain consumer phone records under false pretenses and would turn policing over to the FTC. The Inslee-Blackburn bill would give the FTC authority to prosecute pretexters and outlaw knowing acquisition of confidential phone records by making false statements to a phone company. The bill would make it illegal for anyone to sell or receive confidential phone records known to have been obtained by fraud. Phone companies would have to tell customers when their phone records were obtained unlawfully. nnThe bill resembles one the sponsors pushed last Congress and would supplement one Congress passed in Dec. outlawing pretexting, with penalties of up to 10 years in prison. That bill (HR-4709) originated in the Judiciary Committee and won telecom industry endorsement. The House Commerce Committee last year promoted a bill (HR-4943) that would have given consumers more control over sharing of their records with business partners. The measure would have required phone companies to do more to keep pirates from accessing consumer records, as consumer groups have urged. The Inslee-Blackburn bill seems to address some of those concerns by stating clearly that lying to get phone records is a crime, that selling such data is a crime, even if the perpetrator is in another state or country. The bill would exempt law enforcement from its constraints to let them pursue investigations or intelligence operations.