January 7, 2006
Sale of phone records to be banned in Illinois
Concerned about privacy violations, Illinois officials plan to end the practice of selling of telephone records without customers' knowledge, reveals Science Daily.
The decision comes after the Chicago Sun-Times reported that the police department and the FBI were concerned about the potential for criminals to track officers' cell phone calls through Web services.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan responded by issuing subpoenas to one Internet service company mentioned in the story. "We will be asking (the company) how it obtains the telephone detail information it sells and whether it is through legal means," said a Madigan's spokeswoman.
Separately, Illinois' governor plans to seek legislation this spring making it illegal for brokers to sell telephone account records and other personal information. It will also ban phone companies from releasing such information to anyone except the account holder, law enforcement agencies or someone with a court order.
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