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                                                      PRINTER'S NO. 1606

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA


HOUSE BILL

No. 1301 Session of 2007


        INTRODUCED BY QUIGLEY, CALTAGIRONE, MOYER, MURT, VEREB, BAKER,
           BELFANTI, BIANCUCCI, BOYD, CARROLL, CLYMER, COHEN, COX,
           CREIGHTON, EVERETT, FABRIZIO, FAIRCHILD, FLECK, GEIST,
           GEORGE, GIBBONS, GINGRICH, HARRIS, HESS, HORNAMAN,
           HUTCHINSON, JAMES, M. KELLER, KENNEY, KOTIK, MANN, McGEEHAN,
           McILHATTAN, METCALFE, R. MILLER, O'NEILL, PETRARCA, PHILLIPS,
           PICKETT, PYLE, RAPP, RAYMOND, READSHAW, REICHLEY, ROAE,
           RUBLEY, SAYLOR, SOLOBAY, SONNEY, STERN, R. STEVENSON,
           TANGRETTI, J. TAYLOR, TRUE, WANSACZ AND WATSON, MAY 18, 2007

        REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, MAY 18, 2007

                                     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
     7  Statutes 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:
    11         (1)  knowingly procures, attempts to procure or solicits
    12     or conspires with another to procure a telephone record of a
    13     resident of this Commonwealth without the authorization of
    14     the customer to whom the record pertains by fraudulent,
    15     deceptive or false means;

     1         (2)  knowingly sells or attempts to sell a telephone
     2     record of a resident of this Commonwealth without the
     3     authorization of the customer to whom the record pertains; or
     4         (3)  receives a telephone record of a resident of this
     5     Commonwealth knowing that the record has been obtained
     6     without the authorization of the customer to whom the record
     7     pertains or by fraudulent, deceptive or false means shall be
     8     punished in accordance with subsection (b) and shall be
     9     liable for restitution in accordance with subsection (c).
    10     (b)  Grading.--An offense under subsection (a) is:
    11         (1)  A misdemeanor of the first degree if the offense
    12     involves a single telephone record of a resident of this
    13     Commonwealth.
    14         (2)  A felony of the third degree if the offense involves
    15     two to ten telephone records of a resident of this
    16     Commonwealth.
    17         (3)  A felony of the second degree if the offense
    18     involves more than ten telephone records of a resident of
    19     this Commonwealth.
    20     (c)  Forfeiture and restitution.--In addition to the
    21  penalties set forth under subsection (b), a person who commits
    22  an offense under subsection (a) shall be ordered by the court:
    23         (1)  To forfeit any personal property used or intended to
    24     be used to commit the offense.
    25         (2)  To make restitution for any financial loss sustained
    26     by the customer or any other person who suffered financial
    27     loss as a direct result of the offense.
    28     (d)  Jurisdiction and venue.--In a prosecution brought
    29  pursuant to subsection (a), the conduct shall be considered to
    30  have been committed in the county:
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     1         (1)  where the customer whose telephone record is the
     2     subject of the prosecution resided at the time of the
     3     offense; or
     4         (2)  in which any part of the offense took place,
     5     regardless of whether the defendant was ever actually present
     6     in the county.
     7     (e)  Nonexclusivity.--A prosecution brought pursuant to
     8  subsection (a) shall not prevent prosecution pursuant to any
     9  other provision of law when the conduct also constitutes a
    10  violation of such other provision.
    11     (f)  Nonapplicability.--This section shall not apply to:
    12         (1)  A person who acts pursuant to a valid court order,
    13     warrant or subpoena.
    14         (2)  A telephone company or any of its agents or
    15     representatives who reasonably and in good faith acts
    16     pursuant to paragraph (1), notwithstanding any later
    17     determination that such action was not in fact authorized.
    18     (g)  Construction.--No provision of this section shall be
    19  construed to:
    20         (1)  Prevent any action by a law enforcement agency, or
    21     any officer, employee or agent thereof to obtain telephone
    22     records in connection with the performance of the official
    23     duties of the law enforcement agency.
    24         (2)  Apply to or expand the obligations and duties of a
    25     telephone company to protect telephone records beyond those
    26     otherwise established by Federal or State law or as set forth
    27     in subsection (h).
    28         (3)  Prohibit a telephone company from obtaining, using,
    29     disclosing or permitting access to a telephone record, either
    30     directly or indirectly through its agents:
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     1             (i)  as otherwise authorized by law;
     2             (ii)  with the lawful consent of the customer;
     3             (iii)  as may be necessarily incident to the
     4         rendition of the service or to the protection of the
     5         rights or property of the telephone company or to protect
     6         the customer of those services and other carriers from
     7         fraudulent, abusive or unlawful use of or subscription to
     8         such services;
     9             (iv)  to a governmental entity, if the telephone
    10         company reasonably believes that an emergency involving
    11         immediate danger of death or serious physical injury to
    12         any person justifies disclosure of the information; or
    13             (v)  to the National Center for Missing and Exploited
    14         Children, in connection with a report submitted thereto
    15         under law.
    16     (h)  Information security.--
    17         (1)  A telephone company that maintains telephone records
    18     of a resident of this Commonwealth shall establish reasonable
    19     procedures to protect against unauthorized or fraudulent
    20     disclosure of the records which could result in substantial
    21     harm or inconvenience to any customer.
    22         (2)  No private right of action is authorized under this
    23     subsection.
    24     (i)  Definitions.--As used in this section, the following
    25  words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this
    26  subsection:
    27     "Customer."  A person who subscribes to telephone service
    28  from a telephone company or in whose name such telephone service
    29  is listed.
    30     "Procure."  In regard to a telephone record, to obtain by any
    20070H1301B1606                  - 4 -     

     1  means, whether electronically, in writing or in oral form, with
     2  or without consideration.
     3     "Telephone."  A device used by a person for voice
     4  communications, in connection with the services of a telephone
     5  company, whether the voice communications are transmitted in
     6  analog, data or any other form.
     7     "Telephone company."  A person who provides commercial
     8  telephone services to a customer, irrespective of the
     9  communications technology used to provide the service,
    10  including, but not limited to, traditional wireline or cable
    11  telephone service; cellular, broadband PCS or other wireless
    12  telephone service; microwave, satellite or other terrestrial
    13  telephone service; and voice over Internet telephone service.
    14     "Telephone record."  Information retained by a telephone
    15  company that relates to the telephone number dialed by the
    16  customer, or other person using the customer's telephone with
    17  the customer's permission, or the incoming number of a call
    18  directed to a customer, or other person using the customer's
    19  telephone with the customer's permission, or other data related
    20  to such calls typically contained on a customer's telephone bill
    21  such as the time the call started and ended, the duration of the
    22  call, the time of day the call was made and any charges applied.
    23  The term does not include any information collected and retained
    24  by a customer utilizing caller identification or other similar
    25  technology.
    26     Section 2.  This act shall take effect in 60 days.



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