Bill Text: NJ S908 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Prohibits cellular telephone service providers from disclosing individual proprietary information without customer written consent.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-02-01 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Economic Growth Committee [S908 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-S908-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator NIA H. GILL
District 34 (Essex and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Prohibits cellular telephone service providers from disclosing individual proprietary information without customer written consent.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning cellular telephone numbers and supplementing Title 56 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. A provider of cellular telephone service shall not disclose, sell or transfer individual proprietary information concerning a cellular telephone service customer in this State including, but not limited to, a customer's name, home address, e-mail address or cellular telephone number, to a third party without the express written consent of the customer. As used in this section, "express written consent" means a written agreement signed by a customer after the effective date of this act stating that the customer affirmatively agrees to allow the cellular telephone service provider to disclose, sell or transfer the customer's individual proprietary information to a third party.
b. A violation of this act shall be an unlawful practice subject to the penalties applicable pursuant to section 1 of P.L.1966, c.39 (C.56:8-13) and section 2 of P.L.1999, c.129 (C.56:8-14.3).
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would prohibit a cellular telephone service provider from disclosing, transferring or selling individual proprietary information about a cell phone customer in this State, such as the customer's name, home or e-mail address or cellular telephone number, to a third party without the express written consent of the customer. As defined in the bill, "express written consent" means a written agreement signed by a customer after the bill's effective date stating that the customer affirmatively agrees to allow the provider to disclose, sell or transfer such information to a third party.
It is estimated that there are currently 163 million mobile telephone service numbers in use in the nation. According to recent reports, groups such as the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association are currently developing wireless telephone subscriber directories that are expected to include about 75 percent of the nation's cellular telephone numbers.
The development of these directories will not only intrude on individual privacy by publicizing cellular telephone numbers that customers may wish to keep private but could also be very costly to those customers whose cellular telephone service plans do not include free incoming calls and who, as a result, incur telecommunication charges or usage allocation deductions for all unwanted calls to their individual cell phones.
In addition, the disclosure of cellular telephone numbers of those customers whose cell phones can receive e-mail messages provides an easy means for high volume senders of unsolicited commercial electronic mail messages, known as "spammers," and others to deduce customer e-mail addresses since, in most cases, the user-name part of the e-mail address is contained within the customer's cellular telephone number.
Any violation of the provisions of the bill shall be an unlawful practice subject to the penalties applicable pursuant to section 1 of P.L.1966, c.39 (C.56:8-13) and section 2 of P.L.1999, c.129 (C.56:8-14.3).
