The U.S. Congress has wrapped up its work for the year by passing a peak that would make it illegal to obtain a individual ’s sound record without license .
The Senate recent Friday put across the Law Enforcement and Phone Privacy Protection Act , spurred in part by Revelation of Saint John the Divine in September that Hewlett - Packard ( HP ) investigators had used deceptive agency to bring in access code to sound records of reporters and troupe control panel members .
The vizor , which now wait President George Bush ’s theme song before it becomes law , also outlaws the sale of phone record and bring penalization for people who prevail phone phonograph record as a way to help commit a violent crime . Privacy counselor-at-law have worried that criminals are using phone records obtained through pretexting to stalk potential victims .
Smith praised the Senate for passing the lawmaking . “ This data fraud can adversely strike Americans ’ lives , ” he said in a affirmation . “ A careful subject field of these book may reveal item of our aesculapian or financial lifespan . It may even identify our job or forcible location — a serious business organization for undercover constabulary military officer and victim of stalk or domestic violence . ”
Members of Congress begin raising concerns about the cut-rate sale of telephone record a year ago , after the Electronic Privacy Information Center in mid-2005 lodge a Union complaint about scads of cyberspace - base companies selling phone records for less than $ 100 .
The issue gained traction late this yr after HP functionary revealed that research worker there had used pretexting to make admission to board members ’ and reporters ’ phone disk in an effort to find which board extremity were leaking details of confluence . After extremity of Congress reproof HP officials about the use of goods and services of pretexting in a September hearing , California Attorney General Bill Lockyer in October file felony heraldic bearing against former HP Chairman Patricia Dunn , a former HP effectual counsel and three private investigators .
Last week , HP agreed to a $ 14.5 million settlement in the California civil lawsuit relate to the company ’s spying scandal .
The civil suit made the same allegation that the State Department made in its felonious filing in October against the HP executives and investigators .
Trade group USTelecom , represent large telecommunication bearer , praised the Senate for pass the pretexting note . The legislation will “ reinforce the efforts of telecommunication letter carrier to ensure that client records remain dependable , ” Walter McCormick Jr. , president and chief executive of USTelecom , say in a statement .
