Pretexting : Protecting Consumer Telephone Records from Unauthorized Disclosure

Telephone service providers maintain records of telephone numbers called, and the time and date of each call, which the FCC calls Consumer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI). Pretexting is the impersonation of an individual for the purpose of obtaining personal records such as CPNI. Federal law expressly prohibits pretexting for financial data (bank account and credit card numbers) under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, but the law does not cover telephone records, which are protected by a patchwork of state and federal laws governing identity theft, access to personal information in computer databases, and deceptive practices generally. This essay discusses the gaps in pretexting laws and the resulting threat to consumer privacy