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Introduced Version House Bill 2413 History

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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted

H. B. 2413

 

         (By Delegates Sobonya, Sumner, Moore and C. Miller)

         [Introduced January 11, 2012

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; referred to the

Committee on Energy, Industry and Labor, Economic Development and Small Business then the Judiciary.]

 

 

 

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new article, designated §24-6A-1, §24-6A-2, §24-6A-3 and §24-6A-4, all relating to creating the “Telephone Record Confidentiality Act”; providing definitions; prohibiting telephone records from being obtained, sold or received without consent; and providing criminal penalties.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

    That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new article, designated §24-6A-1, §24-6A-2, §24-6A-3 and §24-6A-4, all to read as follows:

ARTICLE 6A. TELEPHONE RECORD CONFIDENTIALITY ACT.

§24-6A-1. Title.

    This article is known as the “Telephone Record Confidentiality Act”.

§24-6A-2. Definitions.

    As used in this article:

    (a) “Caller identification record” means a record that is delivered electronically to the recipient of a telephone call simultaneously with the reception of the telephone call and that indicates the telephone number from which the telephone call was initiated or similar information regarding the telephone call.

    (b) “Customer” means a person who purchases telephone service.

    (c) “Telephone record” means a record in written, electronic, or oral form, except a caller identification record, that is created by a telephone service provider and that contains any of the following information with respect to a customer:

    (1) Telephone numbers that have been dialed by the customer;

    (2) Telephone numbers pertaining to calls made to the customer;

    (3) The time when calls were made by the customer or to the customer;

    (4) The duration of calls made by the customer or to the customer.

    (d) “Telephone service” means the conveyance of two-way voice communication in analog, digital, or other form by any medium, including wire, cable, fiber optics, cellular, broadband personal communications services, or other wireless technologies, satellite, microwave, or at any frequency over any part of the electromagnetic spectrum. “Telephone service” includes the conveyance of voice communication over the Internet and telephone relay service.

    (e) “Telephone service provider” means a person who provides telephone service to a customer.

§24-6A-3. Obtaining, selling or receiving telephone records prohibited without consent.

    A person may not do any of the following:

    (a) Obtain, or attempt to obtain, a telephone record that pertains to a customer who is a resident of this state, without the customer’s consent, by doing any of the following:

    (1) Making a false statement to an agent of a telephone service provider;

    (2) Making a false statement to a customer of a telephone service provider;

    (3) Knowingly providing to a telephone service provider a document that is fraudulent, that has been lost or stolen, or that has been obtained by fraud.

    (b) Ask another person to obtain a telephone record knowing that the person will obtain the telephone record in a manner prohibited under this section; and

    (c) Sell or offer to sell a telephone record obtained in a manner prohibited under this section.

§24-6A-4. Penalties.

    (a) A person who violates this article is guilty of a misdemeanor if the violation involves one telephone record and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $500 or confined in jail not more than one year, or both fined and confined.

    (b) A person who violates this section is guilty of a felony if the violation involves more than ten telephone records and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned in a state correctional facility not less than one year, or both fined and imprisoned.

    (c) In addition to the penalties authorized under subsections (a) and (b) of this section, a person who violates this section may be required to forfeit personal property used or intended to be used in the violation.

    (d) In an action to enforce this section, the court shall award to a person who is the subject of a telephone record involved in a violation of this section all of the following:

    (1) The amount of the person̓s pecuniary loss suffered because of a violation of this section, if proof of the loss is submitted to the satisfaction of the court, or $1,000, whichever is greater.

    (2) The amount of any gain to the violator as a result of the violation.

    (e) This section does not apply to any of the following:

    (1) Action by a law-enforcement agency in connection with the official duties of the law-enforcement agency.

    (2) A disclosure by a telephone service provider, if any of the following applies:

    (A) The telephone service provider reasonably believes the disclosure is necessary to provide telephone service to a customer, or to protect an individual from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful use of telephone service or a telephone record;

    (B) The disclosure is made pursuant to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; and

    (C) The disclosure is authorized by state or federal law or regulation.



 

    NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish the “Telephone Record Confidentiality Act”; to define terms; to prohibit any person from obtaining, selling or receiving a person’s telephone record without their consent; and to provide criminal penalties.


    This article is new; therefore, it has been completely underscored.

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