Privacy Digest

FCC Adopts New Phone Privacy Rules: "WASHINGTON (AP) - You'll have to provide a password if you want to get your account information from your telephone company under new privacy rules approved Monday by the Federal Communications Commission.

The rules were created to safeguard against pretexting, the practice of impersonating a phone customer to gain access to his phone records.

Pretexting entered the national vocabulary last year when executives of the Hewlett-Packard Co. were charged with hiring private detectives who used the technique to investigate board members.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in a written statement that the new order 'takes a strong approach to protecting consumer privacy.'

In addition to the password protection, the rules also require carriers to ask for customers' permission when sharing private account information with business partners and independent contractors.

Phone companies have contended that such an 'opt-in' requirement violates their First Amendment right to communicate with customers _ a position that was backed by a federal court in 1999.

The new safeguards also require that consumers be notified immediately when there are changes made to their passwords, addresses or online accounts.

The FCC has been working on phone privacy rules since the issue was raised by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a nonprofit privacy rights group, in 2005. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the organization, praised the agency's action.

'I think these are important rules that will help safeguard the privacy of telephone customers' information,' he said. 'There's more work to be done in this area but this is certainly an excellent first step.'

The rules included one provision that Rotenberg and both Democrats on the commission strongly oppose, however.

The provision requires that law enforcement agencies like the FBI and the Secret Service be informed of a privacy breach before consumers are. The delay would be seven days or perhaps indefinite, depending on the circumstances.
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