The Washington Post this morning has an excellent primer-type story on pretexting, the use of subterfuge to obtain phone records and other personal data without permission. The HP scandal makes a cameo appearance.
I’ve been writing about this issue for some time now — examples here, here and here — and yet still find remarkable one fact, in particular: There is no federal law that outlaws pretexting, in general, only one that prohibits use of the technique to obtain financial records.
How can that be?
Well, perhaps it has something to do with the type of customer that this data-theft industry attracts. From the Post story: “It is driven by … demand from lawyers, debt collectors, and even law enforcement and tabloid journalists, experts said.”
Debt collectors and tabloid journalists may not have much clout in Congress, but lawyers and law enforcement can be mighty persuasive when they find their interests threatened.
