WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Connecticut is investigating companies that may have illegally sold consumers' cell phone records, state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said on Wednesday.
"My office has an aggressive, ongoing investigation and will take any action appropriate to pursue any company illegally obtaining and profiting from personal cell phone records," Blumenthal said.
The investigation began in recent months after his office received a handful of complaints.
The Federal Communications Commission said last week it had launched an investigation into how companies obtained the phone records that are available for purchase on the Internet.
In Washington, a bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation on Wednesday that would make it a crime to steal and sell records for cell phones, traditional landlines and Internet-based telephones.
The bill would criminalize the act of making false statements to obtain a customer's phone record or access records on the Internet without permission. It would also become a crime for a phone company employee to sell customer data without permission.
"Stealing a person's phone log can lead to serious personal, financial and safety issues for just about any American," said Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), a New York Democrat.
Also sponsoring the bill was Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, and Sen. Bill Nelson (news, bio, voting record), a Florida Democrat. The bill would likely have to go through Specter's committee as well as the Senate Commerce Committee.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens said in a statement that the panel will review possible legislative options and "will hold a public hearing in the near future to investigate how to better protect phone records."
Reps. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, and Jay Inslee, a Washington Democrat, said they plan to offer similar legislation when the U.S. House of Representatives returns later this month.
Rep. Edward Markey (news, bio, voting record), the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce telecommunications and Internet subcommittee, also plans to offer legislation, according to his spokeswoman.
There are more than 200 million cell phone subscribers, according to a wireless industry organization, CTIA.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said last week the agency would take action against telephone carriers that failed to adequately protect consumers records. He also said it may be up to the Federal Trade Commission to take action against those who fraudulently obtain the data.
"Commission staff have been coordinating with FTC staff on activities underway in both agencies to address this disturbing conduct," Martin said in a January 13 letter.
T-Mobile, the No. 4 wireless carrier, owned by Deutsche Telekom AG (DTEGn.DE), said on Wednesday it had sent cease and desist orders to a number of companies to stop the practice.
The biggest U.S. wireless carrier, Cingular Wireless, owned by AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - news) and BellSouth Corp. (NYSE:BLS - news), said last week it had obtained a temporary restraining order against Data Find Solutions and 1st Source Information Specialists Inc.
It said it had sued the companies alleging they "unlawfully obtained and disseminated Cingular customer records."
Web sites offering call records for a price include locatecell.com and datatraceusa.com. Reuters was unsuccessful in immediately contacting them.
Locatecell.com has posted a notice on its home page stating that queries regarding Cingular numbers "will not be accepted or processed at this time."
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