Bill Text: NJ A2150 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes NJ Task Force on Records Privacy.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-02-11 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee [A2150 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-A2150-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman CAROLINE CASAGRANDE
District 12 (Mercer and Monmouth)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes NJ Task Force on Records Privacy.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act creating the New Jersey Task Force on Records Privacy.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Legislature finds and declares that:
a. The personal information contained in customer records of providers of telecommunications services, such as wired telephone, wireless telephone, paging, text messaging, interconnected voice over Internet protocol, and data communications services, as well as the personal information contained in customer records of other services, can be of great use to criminals because the information listed in such records include a wealth of personal data;
b. Telephone call records may reveal the names of telephone customers' public and private relationships, business associates, and more, and such records could be accessed without the authorization of the customer by:
(1) an employee of a telephone company who sells the records;
(2) a data broker or other person who pretends to be an established customer in order to convince a telephone company's employee to release the customer's records to them, a practice known as "pretexting;" or
(c) a person gaining unauthorized access to the records via the provider's Internet site;
c. Telephone and other service companies, in order to encourage customers to manage their accounts via the Internet, set up the electronic capability to do so in advance; however, many customers never access their Internet accounts. If someone seeking the information activates the account before the customer, that unauthorized person can gain unfettered access to the telephone records and call logs of that customer; and
d. It is in the public interest to establish a New Jersey Task Force on Records Privacy to study the problem of the unauthorized access to and sale of telephone records and other personal information of New Jersey residents to unauthorized persons and to develop and submit recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature as to the steps the government of this State may take to protect New Jersey consumers from the unauthorized access to and sale to unauthorized persons of telephone records and other personal information, not already protected by State or federal law or regulation.
2. a. There is established in the Department of Law and Public Safety the "New Jersey Task Force on Records Privacy" ("task force"). The purpose of the task force shall be to study the problem of the unauthorized access to and sale of telephone records and other personal information of New Jersey residents to unauthorized persons and to develop and submit recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature as to the steps the government of this State may take to protect New Jersey consumers from the unauthorized access to and sale to unauthorized persons of telephone records and other personal information, not already protected by State or federal law or regulation.
b. The task force shall consist of eleven members as follows:
(1) the Attorney General, the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs, the Superintendent of State Police, and the President of the Board of Public Utilities or their designees, who shall serve ex-officio;
(2) three public members who shall be appointed by the Governor, including one representative of the telecommunications industry, one representative of other companies that, as a function of their businesses, maintain personal records of customers, and one representative of a consumer advocacy organization;
(3) one public member appointed by the Governor upon the recommendation of the President of the Senate;
(4) one public member appointed by the Governor upon the recommendation of the Speaker of the General Assembly;
(5) one public member appointed by the Governor upon the recommendation of the Senate Minority Leader; and
(6) one public member appointed by the Governor upon the recommendation of the Assembly Minority Leader.
c. The task force shall organize upon the appointment of a majority of its authorized membership and shall elect a chair from among the members. The members of the task force shall serve for the duration of the existence of the task force. Any vacancy shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment. The public members shall serve without compensation, but shall be reimbursed for necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties.
d. The task force shall study, but need not be limited to, the problem of the unauthorized access to and sale of telephone records and other personal information of New Jersey residents to unauthorized persons. In addition, the task force shall develop and submit recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature as to steps that the government of this State may take to protect New Jersey consumers from the unauthorized access to and sale to unauthorized persons of telephone records and other personal information, not already protected by State or federal law or regulation.
e. Not later than 180 days after its initial meeting, the task force shall issue a report to the Governor and the Legislature, which shall include, but not be limited to, a summary of the problem of the unauthorized access to and sale to unauthorized persons of telephone records and other personal information of New Jersey residents and recommendations as to steps that the government of this State may take to protect New Jersey consumers from the unauthorized access to and sale to unauthorized persons of telephone records and other personal information, not already protected by State or federal law or regulation.
f. The task force shall be entitled to the assistance and services of the employees of any State board, bureau, commission or agency as it may require and as may be available to it for these purposes, and to employ clerical assistants and incur traveling and other miscellaneous expenses as necessary, to perform its duties.
g. The Department of Law and Public Safety and the Board of Public Utilities shall assist the task force in the performance of its duties and provide the task force with studies, data or other materials in the possession of those entities.
3. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire upon the issuance of the task force's report.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes in the Department of Law and Public Safety the "New Jersey Task Force on Records Privacy" ("task force"). The purpose of the task force is to study the problem of the unauthorized access to and sale to unauthorized persons of telephone records and other personal information of New Jersey residents and to develop and submit recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature as to steps that the government of this State may take to protect New Jersey consumers from the unauthorized access to and sale to unauthorized persons of telephone records and other personal information, not already protected by State or federal law or regulation.
The task force is to be composed of eleven members as follows:
(1) the Attorney General, the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs, the Superintendent of State Police, and the President of the Board of Public Utilities, or their designees, who are to serve ex-officio;
(2) three public members who are to be appointed by the Governor, including one representative of the telecommunications industry, one representative of other companies that, as a function of their businesses, maintain personal records of customers, and one representative of a consumer advocacy organization;
(3) one public member to be appointed by the Governor upon the recommendation of the President of the Senate;
(4) one public member to be appointed by the Governor upon the recommendation of the Speaker of the General Assembly;
(5) one public member to be appointed by the Governor upon the recommendation of the Senate Minority Leader; and
(6) one public member to be appointed by the Governor upon the recommendation of the Assembly Minority Leader.
The bill requires that, not later than 180 days after its initial meeting, the task force is to issue a report to the Governor and the Legislature which is to include, but not be limited to, a summary of the problem of the unauthorized access to and sale to unauthorized persons of telephone records and other personal information of New Jersey residents and recommendations as to steps that the government of this State may take to protect New Jersey consumers from the unauthorized access to and sale to unauthorized persons of telephone records and other personal information, not already protected by State or federal law or regulation.
