The House unanimously passed late Tues. the cellphone privacy bil...

legislation targets pretexters who are often able to obtain private information by impersonating cellphone account holders. The activity frequently occurs online. “Amazingly, none of this is clearly illegal under federal law,” he said. “These important new consumer protections cover the records and calling logs of cellular, land line, VoIP users, and accomplish this goal on a technology neutral basis.” Rep. Jackson Lee (D-Tex.) said the threat posed by pretexters is real. “By simply contacting one of the many on-line data brokers that currently exist, the private records of anyone sitting in this room could be filtered into the public domain within a matter of minutes,” she said. “And if put into the wrong hands, such information could be used to commit countless crimes of violence, including acts of domestic violence, retaliatory acts against law enforcement officers, or acts aimed at undermining our current criminal justice system.” Under the bill, pretexters would face up to 10 years in prison and fines up to $250,000 for individuals and $500,000 for organizations. CTIA has endorsed the legislation but didn’t release a statement. The bill would “pursue aggressively the bad actors abusing consumer privacy without imposing unnecessary and costly regulatory mandates,” said a written statement by USTelecom senior Vp Ed Merlis. “Few things are more personal and potentially more revealing than our phone records,” said Rep. Smith (R-Tex.), who introduced the bill. The bill heads to the Senate, where similar legislation is pending.