Calling Records
• FTC Shuts Down Pretexting Operation
• Phone Pretexters Get Off Cheap
• Verizon Wireless Changes Customer Data Policy
• FCC Strengthens Rules For Phone Privacy
• House Tries Once More to Pass Pretexting Bill
• Pretexting Bill: Pretense or Reality?
• Hewlett-Packard Pays $14.5 Million to Settle Pretexting Suit
• HP Scandal Ignites New Pretexting Battle In Congress
• AT&T Sues Calling Record Brokers
• Sprint Nextel Settles Case with Florida Data Broker
• Feds Sue Calling Record Vendors
• Illinois Lawsuit Charges Data Brokerages
• Florida Judgment to End Data Broker`s Business
• Florida Investigates Fake Caller IDs
• California Sues Data Trace USA for $10 Million
• Missouri Sues Datatraceusa.com
• Florida Sues Data Broker Over Sale of Phone Records
• Texas Sues Companies Selling Telephone Calling Records
• Websites Hawking Phone Records Shut Down
• FTC Vows to Stop Illicit Sale of Cell Phone Calling Records
• FTC Pledges "Vigorous" Pursuit of Cell Phone Record Sales
• AT&T Accused of Eavesdropping, Calling Record Sales
• Sprint Sues Cell Phone Record Brokers
• Missouri Shuts Down Locatecell.com
• Texas Probes Cell Phone Calling Record Sales, Missouri Files Suit
• Illinois Sues Company Selling Cell Phone Calling Records
• Outcry Over Sale of Cell Phone Calling Records
The news that companies can access any cell phone customers` recordsand sell them to third parties online has provoked a flurry ofcriticism and calls for investigation, not to mention legislationrestricting the practice.
Cingular Wireless obtained a temporary restraining order on Jan. 13thagainst two companies believed to be masterminding the sale of cellphone and landline records via the Web, Data Find Solutions Inc. and1st Source Information Specialists.
JoaquinCarbonell, Cingular`s executive vice-president and general counsel,said the company "will not tolerate the theft of customer records."
Cingular spokesman Mark Siegel told ConsumerAffairs.com that thecompany "will continue to ratchet up its efforts to increase securityand protect its customers` privacy."
Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) called on the Federal Communications Commissionto investigate how third party companies are gaining access toindividual phone records, while Sen. Charles Schumer plans tointroduce legislation that will make any sale of cell phone recordsfor "unlawful" purposes a federal crime.
On The Back Burner
The news that third party companies were selling phone records on Websites such as Locatecell.com and CellTolls.com should not have come as a revelation.
Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA) sent a letter to FCC chair KevinMartin and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chair Deborah PlattMajoras in Nov. 2005, calling on them to investigate the practice andpush for greater restrictions.
"The privacy of American citizens is priceless -- the phone records ofconsumers should not be commodities for sale in any cyberspacebazaar," Markey said.
The Washington Post and Chicago Sun-Times both published storiesdealing with the issue, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center(EPIC) filed complaints with the FCC to address the issue and push for greater restrictions on the sale of customer records.
But it wasn`t until Washington, D.C.-based blogger John Aravosisbought his own cell phone records, and then the records of formerPresidential candidate General Wesley Clark, that the issue finally made a blip on the national radar.
Aravosis ripped into Congress and the majortelecommunications companies for not moving fast enough and doing moreto protect phone users` privacy.
"What`s most infuriating to me is that our government, both Congressand the executive branch, has known about this since at least lastJuly when the Washington Post story ran, and they didn`t do a damnthing about it, " Aravosis said.
"This is the kind of issue that youcould get fixed on Capitol Hill IN ONE DAY…[But that would take]someone who isn`t in the pocket of the telecommunications industry,the telemarketers, and the direct marketing lobbyists."
Inside Job?
The major question on everyone`s mind is how enterprises like Data Find Solutions are getting their hands on whatshould be protected, private information. News reports are focusing onthe possibility of rogue employees within telecommunications companieswho may be selling the records to third parties.
The truth may be a bit more complex, however.
Although customerservice representatives for telco companies are based in the U.S. forthe most part, the actual billing transactions and management formajor players such as Nextel and T-Mobile are handled by an overseasthird-party company.
That company is Amdocs, an Israel-based customer relations management(CRM) company with offices throughout the United States and othercountries. Amdocs specializes in customized billing and "risk"applications for its clients, including most of the majortelecommunications companies.
Amdocs trumpets its ability to deliver "deep customer understanding"for the needs of the services industry. Amdocs` philosophyrevolves around structuring its responses according to its mostprofitable customers, its promotional material boasts.
And indeed the company has reaped great profit from its work with the majorphone companies. In fiscal year 2004, 11 percent of Amdocs` revenuecame from partnerships with Bell Canada and SBC Communications (nowAT&T), while 15 percent came from Nextel.
Amdocs reported revenue of $573 million for the fourth quarter of2005, with total 2005 revenue totaling over $2 billion.
Amdocs is undertaking a venture with SBC/AT&T called "ProjectLightspeed," handling customer management for AT&T`s attempt atdelivering Internet-based television and content services. AT&T alsoowns Cingular Wireless.
(
When asked about the possibility of Amdocs` involvement in the sale ofcustomer phone records, Mark Siegel would not comment.
"We can`t riskgetting into specifics for fear of tipping off the bad guys," he said."We`re pursuing a variety of means to improve the situation."
Amdocs has been investigated by the U.S. government before. In 2002,Fox News broadcast a series of reports detailing how Amdocs and otheroverseas companies might be gathering detailed information on customerphone usage, and not protecting it properly.
According to the report, Amdocs was exploring the possibility of using"widespread data mining techniques" that utilized customer "behavior,"such as credit reports, to build profiles of the customers, includingwho they called and when.
"U.S. intelligence does not believe the Israeli government is involvedin a misuse of information, and Amdocs insists that its data issecure," the report said. "What U.S. government officials are worriedabout, however, is the possibility that Amdocs data could get into thewrong hands, particularly organized crime."
Although there is no evidence indicating Amdocs` involvement in thesale of cell phone records as of yet, as long as major telecomcompanies continue to outsource vital operations such as customerrecords to third-party companies, the possibility for misuse and abusewill exist.
Even though the outcry over the sale of cell phonerecords may provoke some changes and new laws, the danger for anycaller will still exist every time they pick up the phone.
