Chapter
241
2006 -- S 2972 SUBSTITUTE A
Enacted 06/30/06
A N A
C T
RELATING TO PUBLIC
UTILITIES AND CARRIERS -- CONFIDENTIALITY OF TELEPHONE RECORDS
Introduced By: Senator John
C. Revens
Date Introduced: March 23,
2006
It is
enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
SECTION
1. Chapter 39-2 of the General Laws entitled "Duties of Utilities and
Carriers"
is
hereby amended by adding thereto the following section:
39-2-24.
Confidentiality of telephone records. – (a) As used in this section:
(1) "Telephone record" means information retained by a telephone
company that relates
to a
telephone number dialed by a customer or another person using the customer's
telephone with
such
customer's permission, or the incoming number of a call directed to a customer
or another
person
using the customer's telephone with such customer's permission, or other data
related to
such
call typically contained on a customer's telephone bill, including, but not
limited to, the time
the
call started and ended, the duration of the call, the time the call was made
and any charges
applied.
A telephone record does not include information collected and retained by or on
behalf
of a
customer utilizing caller identification or similar technology;
(2)
"Telephone company" means any person that provides commercial
telephone service
to a
customer, irrespective of the communications technology used to provide such
service,
including,
but not limited to, traditional wireline or cable telephone service, cellular,
broadband
PCS
or other wireless telephone service, microwave, satellite or other terrestrial
telephone
service,
and voice over Internet telephone service;
(3)
"Telephone" means any device used by a person for voice communications,
in
connection
with the services of a telephone company, whether such voice communications are
transmitted
in analog, data or any other form;
(4)
"Customer" means the person who subscribes to telephone service from
a telephone
company
or the person in whose name such telephone service is listed;
(5)
"Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation, limited
liability company,
trust,
estate, cooperative association or other entity;
(6)
"Procure" in regard to a telephone record, means to obtain by any
means, whether
electronically,
in writing or in oral form, with or without consideration.
(b)
No person shall: (1) knowingly procure, attempt to procure, solicit or conspire
with
another
to procure a telephone record of any resident of this state without the
authorization of the
customer
to whom the record pertains; (2) knowingly sell or attempt to sell a telephone
record of
any
resident of this state without the authorization of the customer to whom the
record pertains;
or
(3) receive a telephone record of any resident of this state with the knowledge
such record has
been
obtained without the authorization of the customer to whom the record pertains
or by
fraudulent,
deceptive or false means.
(c)
The provisions of this section shall not apply to any person acting pursuant to
a valid
court
order or warrant, or a certification in accordance with section 39-2-20 for the
names,
addresses
and telephone numbers of persons with nonpublished service, or pursuant to
chapter
21.1
of title 39.
(d)
The provisions of this section shall not be construed to prohibit a telephone
company
from
obtaining, using, disclosing or permitting access to any telephone record,
either directly or
indirectly
through its agents, employees or contractors: (1) as otherwise authorized by
law; (2)
with
the lawful consent of the customer; (3) as may be necessarily incident to the
rendition of the
service,
including, but not limited to, initiating, rendering, billing and collecting
customer
charges,
or to the protection of the rights or property of the telephone company, or to
protect the
customer
of those services and other carriers from fraudulent, abusive or unlawful use
of or
subscription
to, such services; (4) to a governmental entity, if the telephone company
reasonably
believes
that an emergency involving immediate danger of death or serious physical
injury to any
person
justifies disclosure of the information; or (5) to the National Center for
Missing and
Exploited
Children, in connection with a report submitted thereto under Section 227 of
the
Victims
of Child Abuse Act of 1990.
(e)
The provisions of this section shall not be construed to expand upon the
obligations
and
duties of any telephone company to protect telephone records beyond those
otherwise
established
by federal or state law, including, but not limited to, provisions governing
customer
proprietary
network information in Section 222 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended,
and
47 USC 222.
(f)
The provisions of this section shall not apply to a telephone company and its
agents or
representatives
who act reasonably and in good faith pursuant to this section.
(g)
Each telephone company that maintains telephone records of a resident of this
state
shall
establish reasonable procedures to protect against unauthorized or fraudulent
disclosure of
such
records which could result in substantial harm or inconvenience to any
customer. For
purposes
of this subsection, a telephone company's procedures shall be deemed reasonable
if the
telephone
company complies with the provisions governing customer proprietary network
information
in Section 222 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, and 47 USC 222.
(h)
Any violation of subsection (b) of this section: (1) involving a single
telephone record
of up
to not more than ten (10) telephone records of a resident of this state shall
be a
misdemeanor;
and (2) involving more than ten (10) telephone records of a resident of this
state
shall
be a felony.
(i)
Any violation of subsection (b) of this section shall be deemed an unfair or
deceptive
trade
act or practice under chapter 13.1 of title 6.
SECTION
2. This act shall take effect on October 1, 2006.
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LC02856/SUB A
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