FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 21 2006
Contact: In DC - Brandon MacGillis (202) 225-4431
In CO - Chris Arend (303) 844-4988 
 

 Washington, DC -- “Mr.  Chairman, today’s hearing is about “pretexting.”  Data acquired through this method is often sold and can be used for all kinds of nefarious purposes.  The results of the misuse of such information can range from being a mere annoyance, all the way to creating a potentially life-threatening situation.  Such information, for example, could allow a stalker to find a victim, or a threatening husband to track down a spouse that is attempting to seek shelter from an abusive relationship.

“We will hear today that this practice is often built on a platform of deception. Pretexters will call an unwitting phone company and cajole such information out of customer service.  From there, there is no telling how such information can or will be used or to whom it will be sold.

“Mr.  Chairman, many of us do in fact already understand the dangers of this practice.  In fact, on March 8, 2006, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce unanimously reported H.R. 4943, the “Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act,” and on May 2, 2006, this bill was scheduled for consideration on the Floor of the House of Representatives. 

“Yet, rather mysteriously, that bill was taken off the suspension calendar and has disappeared.  Mr. Chairman, that bill would have largely addressed many of the problems that we will be discussing today.  I believe that Members of this Committee, and particularly this Subcommittee, have a right to receive an explanation as to where this bill went.  What is the purpose of having a hearing such as today’s, if we pass new laws to address problems and they go nowhere?

“Mr.  Chairman, as you know, on May 11, 2006, all of the Members of the Minority sent the Chairman of the full Committee a letter specifically asking him to hold a hearing about matters that caused this bill to be pulled.  We believe that the problems we will be discussing today can and should be solved and that H.R. 4943 would effectively address many of them.  But it does us no good to do this kind of work if such legislation is allowed to disappear.  All of us on this Committee believe that it is imperative that we do everything possible to protect the privacy rights of our constituents, but that requires that we be allowed to pass necessary legislation and see to it that it is enacted into law.  If we are truly serious about this matter, we must find out what happened to H.R. 4943 and if there are certain problems, work to tweak the legislation so that it can move forward.

“Finally, Mr.  Chairman I would be remiss if I didn’t discuss another important piece of legislation already passed by this Committee which would also address the issues we will be discussing today.  As you know, pretexting is not always limited to obtaining telephone records from unwitting carriers.  Consequently, on March 29th of this year, this Committee voted 41-0 to pass H.R. 4127, the “Data Accountability and Trust Act,” which prohibits pretexting for all personal information by data brokers.  Unfortunately, that bill also appears to be caught.  I would urge us to aggressively follow-up on that bill’s status as well as consider sending a letter to the Speaker asking that he rapidly move it to final passage and make it a priority.

“Mr. Chairman, thank you again for holding this hearing.  I look forward to hearing from the witnesses today and to work with you and the Chairman of the full Committee to begin providing consumers and our constituents the protections from the kinds of activities we will hear about today.”

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