Wireless Privacy and Spam: Issues for Congress (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised Dec. 28, 2006 |
| Report Number |
RL31636 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Patricia Moloney Figliola, Resources, Science, and Industry Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
Wireless communications devices such as cell phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) are ubiquitous. Some consumers, already deluged with unwanted commercial messages, or "spam," via computers that access the Internet by traditional wireline connections, are concerned that such unsolicited advertising is expanding to wireless communications, further eroding their privacy.
In particular, federal requirements under the Enhanced 911 (E911) initiative to ensure that mobile telephone users can obtain emergency services as easily as users of wireline telephones, are driving wireless telecommunications carriers to implement technologies that can locate a caller with significant precision. Wireless telecommunications carriers then will have the ability to track a user's location any time a wireless telephone, for example, is activated. Therefore some worry that information on an individual's daily habitsâsuch as eating, working, and shoppingâwill become a commodity for sale to advertising companies. As consumers walk or drive past restaurants and other businesses, they may receive calls advertising sales or otherwise soliciting their patronage. While some may find this helpful, others may find it a nuisance, particularly if they incur usage charges.
As with the parallel debates over Internet privacy and spam, the wireless privacy discussion focuses on whether industry can be relied upon to self-regulate, or if legislation is needed. Three laws already address wireless privacy and spam concerns. The 1991 Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA, P.L. 102-243) prohibits the use of autodialers or prerecorded voice messages to call wireless devices if the recipient would be charged for the call, unless the recipient has given prior consent. The 1999 Wireless Communications and Public Safety Act (the "911 Act," P.L. 106-81) expanded on privacy protections for Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) held by telecommunications carriers by adding "location" to the definition of CPNI, and set forth circumstances under which that information could be used with or without the customer's express prior consent. The 2003 Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (the CAN-SPAM Act, P.L. 108-187) required the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue rules to protect wireless subscribers from unwanted mobile service commercial messages (they were issued in August 2004). Consumers also may list their cell phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry.
Most recently, the 109th Congress passed the Undertaking Spam, Spyware, and Fraud Enforcement With Enforcers beyond Borders Act of 2005 (U.S. SAFE WEB Act); the bill was signed into law on December 22, 2006 (P.L. 109-455). The bill would allow the FTC and parallel foreign law enforcement agencies to share information while investigating allegations of "unfair and deceptive practices" that involve foreign commerce. Congress continues to debate how to protect the privacy of wireless subscribers, primarily in the areas of CPNI, wireless location data, and proposed wireless directory assistance services.
