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Economic Crime: Abuse of Telephone Records © 2007 William B. Bierce. All rights reserved On January 12, 2007, President Bush signed the Telephone Records and Privacy Act of 2006. The new law makes it a crime to buy or sell fraudulently obtained “confidential phone records information of a covered entity.” The law responds to a hole in the enforcement of rights of individuals whose telephone records were obtained fraudulently. The law does permit trade in phone records where the “customer” had given authority to do so. The law merely prohibits acts of “knowingly and intentionally” selling, transferring, buying or attempts to sell, transfer or buy, confidential phone records information” of a “covered entity,” without “prior authorization” from the customer to whom such confidential phone records information relates, or knowing or having reason to know such information was obtained fraudulently. New 18 U.S.C. 1039(b) and (c). The penalty is 10 years’ in prison and can be increased by 5 years for various aggravating circumstances. The law relates only to the telephone records of a “telecommunications carrier” (under section 3 of the Federal Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153), and includes any provider of IP-enabled voice services such as Skype. Internationally, service providers having access to such records should be aware that this law is intended to have “extraterritorial” effect, giving U.S. courts extraterritorial jurisdiction over covered offenses. New U.S.C. 1039(f). The focuses on specific harms incurred in response to investigations by Hewlett-Packard’s Chairman of supposed boardroom leaks. Further Readings: |
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