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TELEPHONE RECORDS & PRIVACY PROTECTION
ACT (TRRPA)
Chapter 47 of Title 18, United States Code

Commentary
The impetus behind the creation of this Act was public and Congressional concern over
the numerous Internet businesses that advertised for sale an individual’s detailed call
history. The final catalyst for Congress to create the Act was the Hewlett-Packard fiasco.

Pre-Texting:
With regard to the self-help repossession process, pre-texting is the practice of obtaining
information or recovering collateral under false pretenses. Awareness of the following
federal law, enacted in January 2007, is of critical importance to Recovery Agents
who locate collateral and perform skip-tracing and/or private investigation services
for clients.

In 2006, an article was published that contained Hewlett-Packard’s long-range business
plans. This information could have only come from a member of the HP board of
directors, prompting the board chairman to direct HP’s general counsel to determine who
leaked this vital and confidential information.

The general counsel hired private investigators who obtained the phone call history of
certain board members and news reporters to find the source of the leak. In order to
obtain this information, the investigators misrepresented (pre-texted) themselves to
phone service providers. The scandal incensed the public and advocacy groups,
prompting Congress to create the Telephone Records & Privacy Protection Act.

Under 47 U.S.C. Section 1039(a), the Act makes it a federal crime to “knowingly and
intentionally obtain, or attempt to obtain, confidential phone records information of a
covered entity by;

1. making false or fraudulent statements or representations to an employee of a
covered entity;
2. making such false or fraudulent statements or representations to a customer of
a covered entity;

3. providing a document to a covered entity knowing that such document is
false or fraudulent, or;
4. Accessing customer accounts of a covered entity via the internet, or by means of
such conduct that violates Section 1030 of this Act, without prior authorization
from the customer to whom such confidential phone records relates.

Violators of the Act are subject to a fine, up to $500,000, or imprisonment for not
more than ten (10) years, or both.

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