Just About Anyone Can Get Phone Records

WITH A LITTLE STEALTH, JUST ABOUT ANYONE CAN GET PHONE RECORDS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Matt Richtel]
The protection of phone records falls into a legal gray area, privacy experts say. Legislators, regulators and the phone industry are all considering ways to clamp down on unauthorized releases. Legislation that is pending in the Senate and House would criminalize what is known as pretexting -- seeking to obtain a customer’s phone records under false pretext, typically by pretending to be the customer. Separately, the Federal Communications Commission is considering new rules that would force phone companies to guard customer records more carefully. It is not clear how widespread pretexting is, but its perpetrators appear to be mostly private investigators, seeking information for clients involved in divorces or other civil disputes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/07/technology/07phone.html
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