| |
You wouldn't think that anyone could know that you left a couple of nasty messages for your ex, called the bank to talk about a home equity loan and booked tickets through your travel agent to Tahiti on your cell phone last week. But you'd be wrong.
Information brokers, through a constantly changing
network of Web sites, are selling cell phone records for as little
as $110 to any interested party, according to the Privacy
Rights Clearinghouse, a California-based consumer privacy rights
group.
"If you are in a certain life situation where illegitimate
access to your cell records could cause problems, like a nasty divorce
or custody case or a business lawsuit, or you're the victim of a
stalker, you're vulnerable," says Beth Givens, director of the Privacy
Rights Clearinghouse. "Your adversary could obtain your cell phone
records through a broker and use them against you."
The good news is that cell phone companies, regulators and consumers are sitting up and taking notice. On Wednesday, Feb. 1, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing at which the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission vowed to crack down on this practice.
How it happens
There are a few ways companies or brokers in this business operate.
The most common is through pretexting, when someone calls your cell
phone company pretending to be you and asks that your records be
faxed or e-mailed to a certain fax number or e-mail address.
Another fairly common scenario occurs when a company or broker
gets Web access to your cell phone records by creating an account
in your name and using it to check your records, according to the
Electronic Privacy
Information Center, a consumer privacy rights group in Washington,
D.C. If you haven't ever accessed your cell phone account online,
you're more likely to be a victim of this type of crime.
The third method that data brokers use is to pay an employee of a wireless phone company to access and transfer the data.
What you can do
Even if you don't think you're vulnerable to having your cell phone records bought and sold, it is better to be safe than sorry. Here's what you can do:
Password-protect your cell
phone account. This doesn't just mean logging on to your
online account with your cell phone provider and picking a password
that isn't your nickname, your birthday, your phone number, your
mother's maiden name, your Social Security number or your kid's
birthday. This means picking up the phone and calling your cell
phone company and telling them to only allow access to your account
to individuals who can come up with the right password and that
if you forget it, you'll go to their nearest store and show your
ID to get a new password.
Opt out of CNPI, or customer
proprietary network information, sharing. "Cell phone companies
use your phone records for marketing purposes, not only to sell
you new services but also to sell your information to outside companies
that want to market to you," says Chris Jay Hoofnagle, director
and senior counsel of the Electronic Privacy Information's West
Coast Office. "They hate it when you opt out and make it as difficult
as possible to do so. In fact, you have to call the wireless company
and insist on it, and then sometimes the customer services rep will
say they don't know what you're talking about."
|
