18.2-152.17 - Fraudulent procurement, sale, or receipt of telephone records.
§ 18.2-152.17. Fraudulent procurement, sale, or receipt of telephone records.
A. Whoever (i) knowingly procures, attempts to procure, solicits, orconspires with another to procure a telephone record by fraudulent means;(ii) knowingly sells, or attempts to sell, a telephone record without theauthorization of the customer to whom the record pertains; or (iii) receivesa telephone record knowing that such record has been obtained by fraudulentmeans is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
B. As used in this section:
"Procure" in regard to such a telephone record means to obtain by anymeans, whether electronically, in writing, or in oral form, with or withoutconsideration.
"Telecommunications carrier" means any person that provides commercialtelephone services to a customer, irrespective of the communicationstechnology used to provide such service, including, but not limited to,traditional wireline or cable telephone service; cellular, broadband PCS, orother wireless telephone service; microwave, satellite, or other terrestrialtelephone service; and voice over Internet telephone service.
"Telephone record" means information retained by a telecommunicationscarrier that relates to the telephone number dialed by the customer or theincoming number of a call directed to a customer, or other data related tosuch calls typically contained on a customer telephone bill such as the timethe call started and ended, the duration of the call, the time of day thecall was made, and any charges applied. For purposes of this section, anyinformation collected and retained by customers utilizing Caller I.D., orother similar technology, does not constitute a telephone record.
C. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent any action by alaw-enforcement agency, or any officer or employee of such agency, fromobtaining telephone records in connection with the performance of theofficial duties of the agency.
D. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit atelecommunications carrier from obtaining, using, disclosing, or permittingaccess to any telephone record, either directly or indirectly through itsagents (i) in compliance with a subpoena or subpoena duces tecum or asotherwise authorized by law; (ii) with the lawful consent of the customer orsubscriber; (iii) as may be necessarily incident to the rendition of theservice or to the protection of the rights or property of the provider ofthat service, or to protect users of those services and other carriers fromfraudulent, abusive, or unlawful use of, subscription to, such services; (iv)to a governmental entity, if the telecommunications carrier reasonablybelieves that an emergency involving immediate danger of death or seriousphysical injury to any person justifies disclosure of the information; or (v)to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, in connection witha report submitted thereto under the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990.
E. Venue for the trial of any person charged with an offense under thissection may be in the locality in which:
1. Any act was performed in furtherance of any course of conduct in violationof this section;
2. The accused has his principal place of business in the Commonwealth;
3. Any accused had control or possession of any proceeds of the violation orof any books, records, documents, property, financial instrument, telephonerecord, or other material or objects that were used in furtherance of theviolation;
4. From which, to which, or through which any access to a telecommunicationcarrier was made whether by wires, electromagnetic waves, microwaves, opticsor any other means of communication; or
5. The accused resides, or resided at the time of the offense.
(2006, c. 469.)