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Cell Phone Records for Sale

Posted by Zonk on from the privacy-is-for-congressmen dept.

tabdelgawad writes "The Washington Post has a good writeup on how 'data brokers' use various techniques to obtain cell phone records of individuals then offer them for sale to anyone who will pay. The data is obtained by either bribing phone company employees, or 'pretexting', or accessing unregistered customer accounts online. Although phone companies are the only source of this information (unlike, say SSNs which are available from many sources), one Cingular spokesman was quoted as saying that this is 'an infinitesimally small problem'."

4 of 124 comments (clear)

  1. define:pretexting by carambola5 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Calling the cell company and pretending to be the owner of the account. Since SSNs are apparently easy to acquire, access via pretexting should not be all that difficult. Of course, it is illegal.

    --
    IWARS.
    People, in general, disappoint me. Politicians even more so.
  2. Be afraid, be VERY afraid by Dorsai42 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Check out these guys
    http://www.datatraceusa.com/products.asp/

    You can get pretty much anything related to cell phones. Expensive, but available.

    AND, they're not hiding at all. They must think it's legal.

    --
    If you forget about the future, the future will forget about you.
    1. Re:Be afraid, be VERY afraid by amembleton · · Score: 4, Informative
      Check out these guys
      http://www.datatraceusa.com/products.asp/

      You can get pretty much anything related to cell phones. Expensive, but available.

      AND, they're not hiding at all. They must think it's legal.

      A working link.

  3. Just change their billing address... by oneiros27 · · Score: 3, Informative

    In 1999, I had an account with Sprint PCS.

    My company went and merged with another one, and the new company contacted Sprint, and had my personal cell phone bill redirected to them -- without my giving them permission to do so.

    Needless to say, I was pissed. (It was one of many reasons that I got pissed off at the new management, and quit shortly after). And when I called up Sprint PCS to bitch, they wanted me to give them my pin, and a whole bunch of other identifying info, which to the best of my knowledge, my company didn't have... I bitched them out, and told them they changed it once without it, and they were damned well going to change it back without me giving it this time.

    (I'm not sure if their willingness to change it back just from my bitching them out, without proving who I was is a good thing, or a bad thing ... them changing it the first time was definately a bad thing, though).

    --
    Build it, and they will come^Hplain.