Reuteman: Our privacy thrown out with phone 'data dump'

Published June 24, 2006 at midnight

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The quote of the week came Wednesday from Florida congressman Cliff Stearns after he listened to a morning of testimony on the murky world of data brokers who sell private phone records and other personal information.

"Mr. Chairman, I don't think we have any privacy at all," the Republican said.

Sad, but true, isn't it?

Several Coloradans were among those asked to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which includes Denver Democrat Diana DeGette. Two spoke at length, and two took the Fifth. Colorado is one of five states that doesn't require private investigators to be licensed, a vacuum that apparently has led to our state becoming a magnet for those who make a living coaxing customer service reps into giving them private information on customers. The polite term is "pretexting," as in getting info through false pretext.

"Colorado seems to be a hotbed of pretexting, and I'm going to talk to some of my colleagues in the state legislature about it," DeGette said.

At one point during the hearing, a congressman asked Pat Rapp, of Parker - who since has left that line of work under pressure from law enforcement - whether he could get the bank records of a fellow committee member.

"Give me an hour and I'm sure we can do that," Rapp responded.

Invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination was soon-to- be former state Rep. Jim Welker, R-Loveland. His Universal Communications Co. stopped selling personal cell-phone records after hearing from congressional investigators earlier this year. It's been a rough 2006 for Welker. He earlier announced he will retire from the General Assembly after taking a lot of heat from fellow lawmakers for forwarding them e-mails of racist and homophobic essays. Welker issued a statement Thursday, saying his silence was prompted by "the uncertainty, secrecy and vague nature of the committee's investigation."

By the way, you'll be happy to know that Welker had the temerity to sport a state legislator pin while not testifying.

The House hearing was held, in part, to decide whether new laws are required to safeguard personal information. On Thursday the FBI's deputy general counsel, Elaine Lammert, told the panel, "There are compelling reasons for the government to believe that these operations violate federal law."

In better stead with the law, it would seem, were the activities of Douglas County-based First Data Corp. and its Western Union subsidiary, which apparently aided the FBI in its pursuit of terrorists by providing information on ATM transactions, credit-card purchases and wire transfers. The company's actions came to light Tuesday with the publication of a new book on the war against terrorism. The New York Times followed with an extensive story in its Friday edition. And there are several important distinctions to be made about the financial information First Data and Western Union provided to the FBI and Treasury Department and the phone records allegedly made available to the National Security Agency by Verizon, BellSouth and AT&T.

The massive "data dump" by the phone companies allegedly involved tens of millions of customers, while the financial information apparently was sought for "thousands" of customers and mostly involved international monetary activity, not domestic. Second, the FBI used "narrowly framed" subpoenas and warrants to get records from First Data and Western Union, according to the Times. The phone records apparently were obtained in a much more wholesale and extra-judicial manner. Also, according to the Times, the financial records were used only for terrorism investigations and were prohibited from use in tax fraud or drug probes. If you recall, one of the reasons Denver-based Qwest says it refused to turn over phone records was because it was told the info might be used in these and other areas.

On Friday, AT&T - the nation's largest phone company - instituted its new privacy policy, stating that personal account information is company property and may be shared with enforcement agencies. AT&T claims there's "no linkage" between the new policy and lawsuits claiming it, Verizon and BellSouth violated customers' privacy rights by giving the NSA access to their phone call and e-mail records.

If you believe that, I've got the transcripts of calls between Paris Hilton and the Avalanche goalie I can sell you for a song.

Personally, I can't imagine a judge or jury ordering these phone companies to make a big payout for aiding in the war against terrorists, but that's beside my point. Whether you're a saint or a sinner, we don't have privacy anymore, as the man said. Act accordingly.

Business editor Rob Reuteman may be reached at 303-892-5177 or reutemanr@RockyMountainNews.com.

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