§ 39-2-24 - Confidentiality of telephone records.
SECTION 39-2-24
§ 39-2-24 Confidentiality of telephonerecords. – (a) As used in this section:
(1) "Telephone record" means information retained by atelephone company that relates to a telephone number dialed by a customer oranother 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 usingthe customer's telephone with such customer's permission, or other data relatedto such call typically contained on a customer's telephone bill, including, butnot 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 notinclude information collected and retained by or on behalf of a customerutilizing caller identification or similar technology;
(2) "Telephone company" means any person that providescommercial telephone service to a customer, irrespective of the communicationstechnology used to provide such service, including, but not limited to,traditional wireline or cable telephone service, cellular, broadband PCS orother wireless telephone service, microwave, satellite or other terrestrialtelephone service, and voice over Internet telephone service;
(3) "Telephone" means any device used by a person for voicecommunications, in connection with the services of a telephone company, whethersuch voice communications are transmitted in analog, data or any other form;
(4) "Customer" means the person who subscribes to telephoneservice from a telephone company or the person in whose name such telephoneservice is listed;
(5) "Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation,limited liability company, trust, estate, cooperative association or otherentity;
(6) "Procure" in regard to a telephone record, means toobtain by any means, whether electronically, in writing or in oral form, withor without consideration.
(b) No person shall: (1) knowingly procure, attempt toprocure, solicit or conspire with another to procure a telephone record of anyresident of this state without the authorization of the customer to whom therecord pertains; (2) knowingly sell or attempt to sell a telephone record ofany resident of this state without the authorization of the customer to whomthe record pertains; or (3) receive a telephone record of any resident of thisstate with the knowledge such record has been obtained without theauthorization 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 anyperson acting pursuant to a valid court order or warrant, or a certification inaccordance with § 39-2-20 for the names, addresses and telephone numbersof persons with nonpublished service, or pursuant to chapter 21.1 of title 39.
(d) The provisions of this section shall not be construed toprohibit a telephone company from obtaining, using, disclosing or permittingaccess to any telephone record, either directly or indirectly through itsagents, employees or contractors: (1) as otherwise authorized by law; (2) withthe lawful consent of the customer; (3) as may be necessarily incident to therendition of the service, including, but not limited to, initiating, rendering,billing and collecting customer charges, or to the protection of the rights orproperty of the telephone company, or to protect the customer of those servicesand other carriers from fraudulent, abusive or unlawful use of or subscriptionto, such services; (4) to a governmental entity, if the telephone companyreasonably believes that an emergency involving immediate danger of death orserious physical injury to any person justifies disclosure of the information;or (5) to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, in connectionwith a report submitted thereto under Section 227 of the Victims of Child AbuseAct of 1990.
(e) The provisions of this section shall not be construed toexpand upon the obligations and duties of any telephone company to protecttelephone records beyond those otherwise established by federal or state law,including, but not limited to, provisions governing customer proprietarynetwork information in Section 222 of the Communications Act of 1934, asamended, and 47 U.S.C. § 222.
(f) The provisions of this section shall not apply to atelephone company and its agents or representatives who act reasonably and ingood faith pursuant to this section.
(g) Each telephone company that maintains telephone recordsof a resident of this state shall establish reasonable procedures to protectagainst unauthorized or fraudulent disclosure of such records which couldresult in substantial harm or inconvenience to any customer. For purposes ofthis subsection, a telephone company's procedures shall be deemed reasonable ifthe telephone company complies with the provisions governing customerproprietary network information in Section 222 of the Communications Act of1934, as amended, and 47 U.S.C. § 222.
(h) Any violation of subsection (b) of this section: (1)involving a single telephone record of up to not more than ten (10) telephonerecords of a resident of this state shall be a misdemeanor; and (2) involvingmore than ten (10) telephone records of a resident of this state shall be afelony.
(i) Any violation of subsection (b) of this section shall bedeemed an unfair or deceptive trade act or practice under chapter 13.1 of title6.