President signs pretexting bill into law

PRESIDENT SIGNS PRETEXTING BILL INTO LAW
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Anne Broache]
It's official: "pretexting" to buy, sell or obtain personal phone records -- except when conducted by law enforcement or intelligence agencies -- is now a federal crime that could yield prison time. President Bush on Friday affixed his signature to the Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act of 2006. The measure threatens up to 10 years behind bars to anyone who pretends to be someone else, or otherwise employs fraudulent tactics, to persuade phone companies to hand over what is supposed to be confidential data about customers' calling habits. Even before Bush's move, federal law banned pretexting to obtain someone's financial records. Some states, such as California, have already outlawed telephone pretexting. But many politicians and consumer advocacy groups urged passage of a federal law to clarify that the practice is illegal.
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