"Nobody has the right to put your personal life up for sale on the Internet or anywhere else," said Bowen. "Californians have a right to privacy and pretexting not only violates that right, it makes every single one of these victims a prime candidate for identity theft. It's time to ban the practice of pretexting across the board, before we have websites popping up offering to rip off your medical, financial, or Internet shopping records for a price."
"Pretexting" has become popular in cases involving cell phones, but it can be used to fraudulently get access to someone's personal information from their bank, credit card company, insurance provider, and virtually anywhere else. In the case of cell phone records, a pretexter calls a cellular phone company where they know a particular person has an account. They pose as that person, having just enough information to fool the company into believing they are the actual customer, then ask for a list of the customer's monthly call records. Attorney General Bill Lockyer recently filed a lawsuit seeking $10 million in civil penalties against Data Trace Inc. for allegedly offering a service that relies on pretexting to gain access to people's wireless calling records without their approval.
"There are more than 40 web sites that offer to get their hands on your or anyone else's cell phone calling records for a fee, but pretexting can involve more than just phone records, it can be used by people who want to get access to your medical, bank, credit card, and dozens of other types of personal records," continued Bowen.
SB 1666 bans all pretexting, regardless of what kinds of information or records are involved, and bans hiring someone to get access to records using pretexting. Under the measure, anyone who has been victimized by a pretexter will be able to sue the pretexter and ask the court for an injunction, $500 in civil penalties, actual damages, and attorneys fees and costs. If the victim can prove the pretexting was willful, the court can charge $3,000 in civil penalties per violation.
"We shouldn't allow people to make a business out of selling access to your medical, bank, cell phone or other personal records," concluded Bowen. "You have the right to decide who sees your medical records and who you were on the cell phone with last night for an hour. California has been a national leader in creating identity theft prevention laws and pretexting is the latest in a string of threats to people's privacy that we need to pull the rug out from under."
Pretexting has gained national attention in the past year, as nearly 40 different web sites have sprung up that offer to obtain cell phone records for a fee. Bills have been introduced in the U.S. House and Senate that would criminalize the sale of phone call records. Lawmakers in other state legislatures, including New York and Illinois, are also considering legislation that will protect consumer phone call records.
SB 1666 is supported by the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Consumer Action, and the California Alliance for Consumer Protection. The bill now goes to the Assembly, where it will be assigned to a policy committee.
