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Lamar Smith
Contact: Beth Frigola (202) 225-4236


Smith Bill to Protect Phone Records Approved

Washington, Mar 2 -

The House Judiciary Committee today approved IP Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Smith’s (TX-21) “Law Enforcement and Phone Privacy Protection Act of 2006” (H.R. 4709), designed to protect the privacy of citizens and law enforcement officials by criminalizing the fraudulent sale or solicitation of confidential cell phone records. The bipartisan legislation was approved by voice vote.

"Few things are more personal and potentially more revealing than our phone records,” explained Smith. “The records of whom we choose to call and how long we speak with them can reveal much about our business and personal lives. A careful study of these records may reveal details of our medical or financial life. It may even disclose our physical location. This is a serious concern for undercover police officers and victims of stalking or domestic violence.”

“New federal criminal penalties are needed to deter and punish these dishonest individuals and businesses – and to put them out of business permanently.”

The bipartisan bill provides new, explicit and strengthened protections for the privacy of confidential telephone records, including calling logs. It establishes specific criminal penalties for the fraudulent acquisition or disclosure of these records without consumer consent.

H.R. 4709 imposes serious criminal penalties – up to 20 years in prison – for anyone who knowingly and intentionally obtains or attempts to obtain the confidential phone records of a telephone company using a fraudulent scheme or device.

The bill further imposes up to five years imprisonment on anyone who: 1) either sells or transfers or attempts to sell or transfer such records without authorization; or 2) purchases such records knowing they were obtained without authorization.

“The unauthorized trade in this information not only assaults individual privacy, but it the wrong hands can lead to violence and in the most extreme instances, even death,” concluded Smith. “We must act to deter these acts by providing that anyone who seeks to wrongfully acquire or disclose these records faces serious criminal consequences.”