Protect Phone Records

Protect Your
Phone Records

Consumer Action Protect Your Phone Records

Purpose of the Training

• What private, personal information can
•
•
•

be found in your phone records
How to keep your personal information
safe so you won’t be victimized
Become familiar with laws that protect
the privacy of your phone records
What to do if your phone records are
accessed without your permission


Objectives

• You will learn
 Why someone would try to access
your phone records
 Who would try to access your phone
records
 How predators, crooks and loved
ones may access private information
 How to protect yourself from
becoming a victim

About Phone Records

• Phone records are an important source
of valuable information
 Someone may try to access this
information without your consent for
identity theft or other harmful purposes

• Various laws and protections are in
place to keep your phone records
private
 But you must take an active role in
protecting your personal data

Phone Record Information

• Your landline phone records contain
 Billing address and/or home address
 Long distance or local telephone numbers
dialed from your phone
 Calls billed to a calling card or credit card
 Numbers from which collect calls were
accepted
 Dates and lengths of calls outside your
calling area.



• Your cellular phone records contain
 The phone calls made or received by you
and other family plan members

• Your online phone account records
may contain
 Contact information you provided, such as
address, home or office phone numbers
 Bank or credit information, such as credit
or debit card numbers and bank account
numbers


• Your phone company may also
keep
 Birthdate
 Social Security number
 All telephone and Internet services to
which you subscribe
 Information about your cell phone
that could be used to track the
location of the person who has it

Who Wants Phone Records?

• Many people may want your phone
records including








Con artists and identity thieves
Data brokers / salespeople
Ex-spouses or former partners
Someone who wants to sue you
Stalkers
Investigators, spies, bail bondsmen
Criminals for retaliation purposes


Uses for Your Phone Records

• How could someone use the
information from your phone records?
 Wife going through a divorce uses her
husband’s phone records to argue that he
was playing around with other women
 Jealous employee obtains a co-worker’s
phone records and finds that he frequently
calls an AIDS support group. He spreads
rumors that the co-worker has AIDS.

• Other examples?

Access to Phone Records

• Some ways to access phone
records
 Pretexting (pretending to be the
account holder or someone else)
 Reading another person’s bills
 Accessing phone accounts online


Pretexting

• Pretexting is using false pretenses
to obtain someone else’s personal
information
 Impersonating the victim or spouse
 Telling lies
 Conning a company employee or
other individual


Pretexting

• Pretexters obtain your information via
 You and your neighbors, family, co-workers
• For example, “phone surveys” that ask for
information such as the family pet’s name, a
common password on accounts

 Public records
•
•
•
•

home purchases
bankruptcy
business start up
marital status


Pretexting

• Pretexting is illegal
 There are laws in place to protect
victims of pretexting

• Exceptions
 Law enforcement
• agencies such as police or the FBI, can
lawfully obtain your phone records

 Phone companies
• turn over customer phone records if
compelled by a subpoena or a court
order

Laws Against Pretexting

• 1999 — Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
 Prohibits pretexting to obtain financial
records

• 2006 — Telephone Records and Privacy
Protection Act
 Makes the use of pretexting to buy, sell or
obtain phone records a federal crime

• 2007 — The Federal Communications
Commission
 Requires phone companies to use stringent
authentication measures to protect phone
records

If Your Records Are Breached

• Phone companies are required to
notify customers
 Timing of the notification depends on
the circumstances of the breach and
the instructions of law enforcement


Protecting Your Phone Records

• Ways to keep your phone records
private






Get an non-published number
Set up strong passwords
Limit the information you share
Inquire about information needed
Enlist family members not to divulge
information
 Keep phone bills and other paperwork
containing personal information under lock
and key


• New FCC security measures
effective at the end of 2007
• All phone companies must
 Require passwords for account info
• Some exceptions to passwording apply

 Notification on password changes
 Customer consent before releasing
data
 Notification if confidentiality of
records is breached


• Ask your phone company to
 Deactivate the online access feature
if you don’t manage your account
online
 If it’s possible to remove call details
from your phone bills


Phone Company Responsibility

• Phone companies must
 Keep records of whether customers
grant permission to use their account
information for marketing
 Keep records of all breaches in
which customer information is
disclosed to third parties
 Train employees in the appropriate
use of customer information
continued…

Phone Company Responsibility
…continued

 Uphold marketing privacy standards
 Release annual certificates that its
procedures comply with FCC rules
 Inform the FCC of any legal actions
taken against data brokers
 Provide a summary of the complaints
about unauthorized disclosure of
customer information

CPNI

• Customer proprietary network
information includes





services you subscribe to
whom you call
when you call
how long your calls are, etc

• Generally, the use of CPNI without
customer permission is prohibited
 opt out / opt in

CPNI, Sales and Marketing

• Your phone company can use your
information without your permission to
 Offer you enhanced services of the same
type you subscribe to
 Use customer information for creating
directories.

• Phone companies are prohibited from
using CPNI to lure back customers who
have switched to another service
provider


If You Become a Victim

• If you believe your phone records
have been stolen
 Report to your phone company
 Close account and open new account
 Set up passwords to prevent
unauthorized access
 File an incident report with police



• Complain to the FCC
 Email
• fccinfo@fcc.gov

 Online
• www.fcc.gov/cgb/complaints.html

 Mail
• FCC - Consumer Complaints
• 445 12th Street SW
• Washington, DC 20554

For More Information Contact

• Complain to the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC)
 Phone
• 877-382-4357

 Web site
• www.ftc.gov

 Mail
• Consumer Response Center
• 600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
• Washington, DC 20580


Protect Your Phone Records is a joint
educational partnership brought to you by
Consumer Action, the National Consumers
League (NCL) and Verizon
For more information:
Consumer Action: 415-777-9648
Web site: www.consumer-action.org
Email: outreach@consumer-action.org


Protect Phone Records

Empfohlen

Empfohlen

Weitere ähnliche Inhalte

Ähnlich wie Protect Phone Records

Ähnlich wie Protect Phone Records (20)

Mehr von - Mark - Fullbright

Mehr von - Mark - Fullbright (20)

Kürzlich hochgeladen

Kürzlich hochgeladen (20)

Protect Phone Records