Sec. 16-247u. Unauthorized procurement and sale of telephone records. Definitions. Exclusions. Telephone company protection of records. Penalties. Unfair trade practice.
Sec. 16-247u. Unauthorized procurement and sale of telephone records. Definitions. Exclusions. Telephone company protection of records. Penalties. Unfair
trade practice. (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
services 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, warrant or subpoena and shall not be construed to prevent any action
by a law enforcement agency, or any officer, employee or agent of such agency, to
obtain telephone records in connection with the performance of the official duties of
the agency.
(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 (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 a resident of this state shall be a class C misdemeanor, (2) involving two to
not more than ten telephone records of a resident of this state shall be a class B misdemeanor, and (3) involving more than ten telephone records of a resident of this state
shall be a class A misdemeanor.
(i) Any violation of subsection (b) of this section shall be deemed an unfair or
deceptive trade act or practice under subsection (a) of section 42-110b.
(P.A. 06-96, S. 1.)