Verizon Wireless Approves of Cell Phone Privacy Bill

In June of 2004, Verizon Wireless was the first wireless provider to announce its stance on the side of customer privacy by refusing to take part in a national wireless phone directory. Two months later, the wireless giant acquired an injunction against Jacob Brown, a resident of Rhode Island and known spammer who was soliciting via text messages to numerous Verizon Wireless subscribers.

 

Today, Sentators Charles Schumer of New York, Arlen Spector of Pennsylvania, and Bill Nelson of Florida “proposed legislation in the U.S. Senate today to make it a crime for someone to obtain cell phone customer calling or billing information under false pretenses or for a wireless company employee to sell such customer information.”

 

Verizon Wireless issued the following statement today from Steve Zipperstein, vice president of legal and extreme affairs:

 

"As the first wireless company in the U.S. to take legal action to protect cell phone customers' private account information from so-called online data brokers, Verizon Wireless applauds the efforts of Sens. Schumer, Specter and Nelson to protect our customers' privacy from the crooks and predators who we've been hauling into civil court. The criminal penalties in this bill will provide another powerful weapon in the legal arsenal that the private sector and the government can use to protect consumers. We believe this legislation will give federal prosecutors and others in law enforcement the tools they need to crack down on this despicable practice and help defend the privacy of U.S. cell phone customers."

 

This news follows December’s announcement about the company’s win on permanent injunctions to stop two telemarketing firms from making illegal sales calls to cell phone customers. The lawsuits, based on information from Verizon Wireless customers and company employees who received the calls, were the first of their kind initiated by a U.S. wireless carrier to protect wireless customers from illegal telemarketing calls.