PRINTER'S NO. 3768
No. 661 Session of 2006
INTRODUCED BY E. Z. TAYLOR, PHILLIPS, RUBLEY, FORCIER, ADOLPH,
ARGALL, BAKER, BALDWIN, BARRAR, BASTIAN, BEBKO-JONES,
BELFANTI, BEYER, BISHOP, BOYD, BUNT, CALTAGIRONE, CAPPELLI,
CIVERA, CLYMER, COHEN, CORRIGAN, CRAHALLA, CREIGHTON, CRUZ,
DENLINGER, DERMODY, DeWEESE, DiGIROLAMO, DONATUCCI, J. EVANS,
FABRIZIO, FAIRCHILD, FICHTER, FLEAGLE, FLICK, GABIG, GEIST,
GEORGE, GILLESPIE, GINGRICH, GOOD, GOODMAN, GRUCELA, HARHART,
HARPER, HARRIS, HASAY, HENNESSEY, HERSHEY, HESS, HICKERNELL,
JAMES, KENNEY, KILLION, KOTIK, LEDERER, LEH, MAITLAND, MAJOR,
MANN, MARKOSEK, MARSICO, McGILL, McILHATTAN, McILHINNEY,
MILLARD, R. MILLER, S. MILLER, MUSTIO, MYERS, NAILOR,
PALLONE, PARKER, PAYNE, PICKETT, PISTELLA, PYLE, QUIGLEY,
RAMALEY, RAPP, READSHAW, REED, REICHLEY, ROBERTS, ROEBUCK,
ROHRER, ROSS, SAINATO, SANTONI, SATHER, SAYLOR, SCAVELLO,
SCHRODER, SHANER, SIPTROTH, B. SMITH, SOLOBAY, SONNEY,
STABACK, STERN, SURRA, TANGRETTI, THOMAS, TIGUE, TRUE, WALKO,
WANSACZ, WATSON, WILT, WOJNAROSKI, YOUNGBLOOD AND FREEMAN,
APRIL 3, 2006
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,
APRIL 3, 2006
AN ACT
1 Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania
2 Consolidated Statutes, providing for the offense of unlawful
3 procurement, sale or receipt of telephone records.
4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby enacts as follows:
6 Section 1. Title 18 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes
7 is amended by adding a section to read:
8 § 4121. Unlawful procurement, sale or receipt of telephone
9 records.
10 (a) Offense--Any person who:
1 (1) knowingly procures, attempts to procure or solicits
2 or conspires with another to procure a telephone record of a
3 resident of this Commonwealth without the authorization of
4 the customer to whom the record pertains or by fraudulent,
5 deceptive or false means;
6 (2) knowingly sells or attempts to sell a telephone
7 record of a resident of this Commonwealth without the
8 authorization of the customer to whom the record pertains; or
9 (3) receives a telephone record of a resident of this
10 Commonwealth knowing that the record has been obtained
11 without the authorization of the customer to whom the record
12 pertains or by fraudulent, deceptive or false means
13 shall be punished in accordance with subsection (b) and shall
14 be liable for restitution in accordance with subsection (c).
15 (b) Grading.--An offense under subsection (a) is:
16 (1) A misdemeanor of the first degree if the offense
17 involves a single telephone record.
18 (2) A felony of the third degree if the offense involves
19 two to ten telephone records of a resident of this
20 Commonwealth.
21 (3) A felony of the second degree if the offense
22 involves more than ten telephone records of a resident of
23 this Commonwealth.
24 (c) Forfeiture and restitution.--In addition to the
25 penalties set forth under subsection (b), a person who commits
26 an offense under subsection (a) shall be ordered by the court:
27 (1) To forfeit any personal property used or intended to
28 be used to commit the offense.
29 (2) To make restitution for any financial loss sustained
30 by the customer or any other person who suffered financial
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1 loss as a direct result of the offense.
2 (d) Jurisdiction and venue.--In a prosecution brought
3 pursuant to subsection (a), the conduct shall be considered to
4 have been committed in the county:
5 (1) where the customer whose telephone record is the
6 subject of the prosecution resided at the time of the
7 offense; or
8 (2) in which any part of the offense took place,
9 regardless of whether the defendant was ever actually present
10 in the county.
11 (e) Nonexclusivity.--A prosecution brought pursuant to
12 subsection (a) shall not prevent prosecution pursuant to any
13 other provision of law when the conduct also constitutes a
14 violation of such other provision.
15 (f) Nonapplicability.--This section shall not apply to:
16 (1) A person who acts pursuant to a valid court order,
17 warrant or subpoena.
18 (2) A telephone company or any of its agents or
19 representatives who reasonably and in good faith acts
20 pursuant to subsection (b), notwithstanding any later
21 determination that such action was not in fact authorized.
22 (g) Construction.--No provision of this section shall be
23 construed to:
24 (1) Prevent any action by a law enforcement agency, or
25 any officer, employee or agent thereof to obtain telephone
26 records in connection with the performance of the official
27 duties of the law enforcement agency.
28 (2) Apply to or expand the obligations and duties of a
29 telephone company to protect telephone records beyond those
30 otherwise established by Federal or State law or as set forth
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1 in subsection (i).
2 (3) Prohibit a telephone company from obtaining, using,
3 disclosing or permitting access to a telephone record, either
4 directly or indirectly through its agents:
5 (i) as otherwise authorized by law;
6 (ii) with the lawful consent of the customer;
7 (iii) as may be necessarily incident to the
8 rendition of the service or to the protection of the
9 rights or property of the telephone company or to protect
10 the customer of those services and other carriers from
11 fraudulent, abusive or unlawful use of or subscription to
12 such services;
13 (iv) to a governmental entity, if the telephone
14 company reasonably believes that an emergency involving
15 immediate danger of death or serious physical injury to
16 any person justifies disclosure of the information; or
17 (v) to the National Center for Missing and Exploited
18 Children, in connection with a report submitted thereto
19 under law.
20 (h) Information security.--
21 (1) A telephone company that maintains telephone records
22 of a resident of this Commonwealth shall establish reasonable
23 procedures to protect against unauthorized or fraudulent
24 disclosure of the records which could result in substantial
25 harm or inconvenience to any customer.
26 (2) No private right of action is authorized under this
27 subsection.
28 (i) Definitions.--As used in this section, the following
29 words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this
30 subsection:
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1 "Customer." A person who subscribes to telephone service
2 from a telephone company or in whose name such telephone service
3 is listed.
4 "Procure." In regard to a telephone record, to obtain by any
5 means, whether electronically, in writing or in oral form, with
6 or without consideration.
7 "Telephone." A device used by a person for voice
8 communications, in connection with the services of a telephone
9 company, whether the voice communications are transmitted in
10 analog, data or any other form.
11 "Telephone company." A person who provides commercial
12 telephone services to a customer, irrespective of the
13 communications technology used to provide the service,
14 including, but not limited to, traditional wireline or cable
15 telephone service; cellular, broadband PCS or other wireless
16 telephone service; microwave, satellite or other terrestrial
17 telephone service; and voice over Internet telephone service.
18 "Telephone record." Information retained by a telephone
19 company that relates to the telephone number dialed by the
20 customer, or other person using the customer's telephone with
21 the customer's permission, or the incoming number of a call
22 directed to a customer, or other person using the customer's
23 telephone with the customer's permission, or other data related
24 to such calls typically contained on a customer's telephone bill
25 such as the time the call started and ended, the duration of the
26 call, the time of day the call was made and any charges applied.
27 The term does not include any information collected and retained
28 by a customer utilizing caller identification or other similar
29 technology.
30 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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