Federal Law News

Federal Trade Commision Seeks Halt to Sale of Consumers’ Confidential Telephone Records

The Federal Trade Commission has filed federal court complaints charging five Web-based operations that have obtained and sold consumers’ confidential telephone records to third parties with violating federal law. The agency is seeking a permanent halt to the sale of the phone records, and has asked the courts to order the operators to give up the money they made with their illegal operations.

“Trafficking in consumers’ confidential telephone records is outrageous,” said Lydia Parnes, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “It robs consumers of their privacy and exposes them to everything from snoops to stalkers. We intend to put a stop to it.”

In congressional testimony last February, the FTC said it was investigating companies that advertised on the Internet that they would obtain and sell telephone records. The testimony said that FTC staff had surfed the Web to locate companies that offered to sell consumers’ phone records, identified targets, and completed undercover purchases of the phone records. FTC staff followed up with warning letters to operators of 29 Web sites that continued to advertise the sale of phone records to the public. Read more at ftc.gov

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