This report from Frank Main:
>
> Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Chicago) announced Wednesday that her SAFE CALL
> bill was included in bipartisan legislation passed by the House Energy
> and Commerce Committee to protect the private phone records of consumers.

> Schakowsky introduced the bill on Jan. 31, a few weeks after the Chicago
> Sun-Times reported that Chicago Police and the FBI were warning their
> undercover agents that criminals could buy their cell phone records on the
> Internet.

> Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) has introduced a similar measure.
> The Sun-Times has reported that some information brokers have been stealing calling
> records from cell phone companies by posing as customers, hacking into
> their databases and buying the information from insiders.

> As a result, attorneys general across the country, including Illinois'
> Lisa Madigan, have filed lawsuits and subpoenaed records to stop the
> practice.

> Not only could law enforcement agencies be compromised by these phone
> record burglars: abusive spouses could buy such records to track down
> their victims. Such phone records are commonly used by lawyers in divorce
> proceedings.

> In her statement released today, Schakowsky said: "I am proud that my
> bill, the SAFE CALL Act, has become part of the bipartisan effort to
> combat one of the newest threats to consumers' privacy and safety - the
> fraudulent acquisition of phone records, or pretexting, in order to sell
> those records to anyone who wants them."
>