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Lawmakers Propose to Put Cell Phone Records Off-Limits
Selling or obtaining another person's cell phone records would become a crime in Georgia under a proposal that is moving through the Georgia Legislature. Cell phone records are being sold over the Internet, with attorneys among the top customers, according to some reports. 'It's wrong for attorneys to engage in actions to obtain information that is gotten through subterfuge or theft,' said Sen. John Wiles, R-Kennesaw, who authored Senate Bill 456. Wiles added that patronage of the Web sites certainly is not limited to attorneys. 'Let's put it this way, the legal profession is keeping it alive,' Rob Douglas, a private eye turned security consultant who has helped the Federal Trade Commission investigate and prosecute online operators that sell phone records, told the National Law Journal, a sister publication of this newsletter. 'I've investigated them with the federal government and in private lawsuits and in every single case, the overwhelming majority of users of these companies are attorneys,' Douglas said. These attorneys include divorce lawyers, who want to know to whom feuding spouses are talking; business lawyers, who want to know to whom their clients' competitors are talking; and employment lawyers, who want to know if employees are selling trade secrets. Wiles said personal cell phone records can be obtained by pretending to be the owner of the account, paying for someone else to provide the records, or hacking into the computer system where the records are stored. 'The way that a lot of people are getting records is that they are lying to cell phone companies, and that's just identity theft,' Wiles said. Pretexting ' the act of acquiring personal information, such as cell phone records, under false pretenses ' isn't illegal. 'I'm not aware of any state law that makes releasing this information a crime,' said Daryl A. Robinson, counsel to state Attorney General Thurbert E. Baker. 'There is a code section that was passed last year that restricts giving this information to telemarketers.
That's [Georgia] Code 46-5-28, but it specifically does not make it a crime. It just makes it subject to civil suit on behalf of the aggrieved customer.'
But that would change if SB 456 and its companion, SB 455, become law. Under SB 456, violators could face 10 years imprisonment and a $100,000 fine for illegally purchasing or selling cell phone records. Wiles said this bill is necessary 'because there are people stealing [other] people's private information and selling it.' SB 455 would prohibit information brokers from obtaining cell phone records for resale and forbid telephone companies from selling those records, explained the bill's creator, Sen. David Shafer, R-Duluth. Cell phone companies also would be required to inform their customers if their cell phone records have been obtained illegally. Violators could be fined up to $10,000 per incident. In addition, the bill's passage would allow the Georgia Board of Private Detectives and Security Agencies to discipline private investigators who violate the law. 'The evil that can be done with this information is limited only by the imaginations of evil people,' Shafer said of the selling and obtaining of cell phone records. 'Cell phone records are personal and private and deserve legal protection.'
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
The Article 8 Opt In
The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin
With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.
Legal Possession: What Does It Mean?
Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.
The Stranger to the Deed Rule
In 1987, a unanimous Court of Appeals reaffirmed the vitality of the "stranger to the deed" rule, which holds that if a grantor executes a deed to a grantee purporting to create an easement in a third party, the easement is invalid. Daniello v. Wagner, decided by the Second Department on November 29th, makes it clear that not all grantors (or their lawyers) have received the Court of Appeals' message, suggesting that the rule needs re-examination.