DINGELL PRETEXTING BILL PUTS CARRIERS ON NOTICE

摘要

A little-noticed antipretexting measure was among consumer bills that House Commerce Committee Chmn. John Dingell (D-Mich.) unveiled last week. The bill focuses on carriers?duty to guard data, rather than sanctions against violators. Last Congress a similar effort stalled over legal implications for a National Security Agency warrantless surveillance program. Dingell抯 pretexting bill comes a month after President Bush signed a law punishing those convicted of pretexting with up to 10 years in prison. That law, sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), came through the Judiciary Committee and focused on FTC enforcement. It passed with no opposition after multiple hearings about abuses such as the Hewlett-Packard corporate board scandal involving illegal pretexting. nnSeveral competing bills are moving this Congress. One that Senate Commerce Committee Vice Chmn. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) introduced Jan. 11 would bar phone companies from selling personal data, require they guard against unauthorized access to records and allow customers to sue over breaches. The bill would extend consumer protections to wireline, wireless and Internet, and empower the U.S. and states to pursue lawbreakers. Like the Dingell measure, it deals with carrier liability. A bill (HR-852) by Reps. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) would give FTC more responsibility for pretexting enforcement by strengthening and clarifying the law already passed. It would require phone companies to notify consumers when records are obtained illegally.