Congress targets phone-record dealers
2006-04-11
A dozen companies selling records of private phone calls in the U.S. have been subpoenaed by U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton.
The committee launched an inquiry on February 3rd into the sale of private phone records and other personal information over the Internet. Some 26 Web sites in the U.S. and Canada have been identified as violating consumers' privacy by selling batches of phone records - information that most people consider private. The subpoenas are seeking copies of revenue reports, tax returns, price and service listings, any records maintained on an individual, and additional information held by the companies in question. In total, twelve individuals received subpoenaes for their allegedly questionable business practices. Privacy advocates will find interesting the extent the subpoenas go to acquire a wide range of information about the practice of selling phone record details. It is not clear from the report how these companies acquired the phone records.
The news is yet another indication that U.S. telephone and Internet communications, records and details, widely believed by the general public to be secure, are available to a number of different parties, often without the public's knowledge.