Last night, or rather early this morning, there was a lengthy discussion about cell phone ping records, and whether a person's ping records could be legally obtained by a private citizen without that telephone account holder's consent.
The answer is no. Phone records are confidential. A private investigator or bounty hunter may get those records, but not without applying to the the proper Court for Judicial approval to obtain those records. I doubt that Padilla could show cause to the appropriate Court in order to obtain Amy, or Ricardo, or Tony's records. Those individuals are not being bounty hunted by Padilla. It is a federal offense to possess inappropriately obtained ping records. This is what I suspected along. I though that the idea proposed by others that our phone records are for sale to any private individual just for the asking was incredible.
With respect to Padilla on last night's Geraldo, Padilla referred to "her" records, and not when "she" is sleeping, thus impying that he was talking about the ping records of one individual, most likely Casey.
So LP hasw Casey's pings. Big Deal. As if LE didn't go through those pings with a fine tooth comb about 300 times already.
Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act of 2006 - Amends the federal criminal code to prohibit the obtaining, in interstate or foreign commerce, of confidential phone records information from a telecommunications carrier or IP-enabled voice service provider (covered entity) by: (1) making false or fraudulent statements to an employee of a covered entity or to a customer of a covered entity; (2) providing false or fraudulent documents to a covered entity; or (3) accessing customer accounts of a covered entity through the Internet or by fraudulent computer-related activities without prior authorization. Imposes a fine and/or imprisonment of up to 10 years.
Prohibits the unauthorized sale or transfer, in interstate or foreign commerce, of confidential phone records information by any person or the purchase or receipt of such information with knowledge that it was fraudulently obtained or obtained without prior authorization. Imposes a fine and/or imprisonment of up to 10 years. Exempts covered entities from such restrictions to the extent authorized by the Communications Act of 1934 (e.g., for billing, protection of property rights, or for emergency purposes).
Doubles fines and imposes an additional five-year prison term for violations occurring in a 12-month period involving more than $100,000 or more than 50 customers of a covered entity. Imposes an additional five-year prison term for violations involving the use of confidential phone records information to commit crimes of violence, crimes of domestic violence, and crimes against law enforcement officials and the administration of justice.
Grants extraterritorial jurisdiction over crimes defined by this Act.
