New legislation proposed by Senator Chuck Schumer (D, NY) and backed by heavyweights from both major parties, seeks to criminalize both the practitioners and the dupes of "social engineering".

That's just a fancy way of smooth-talking someone out of some information they shouldn't normally impart, but it has been the most effective technique for fraudsters, hackers and private eyes over the years.

Schumer's bill, the proposed Consumer Telephone Records Protection Act of 2006, makes disclosing a subscriber's phone records an offence. It specifically outlaws making false statements or providing phoney documentation to a phone provider in order to obtain the records, and accessing an account over the net without the subscriber's authorization.

According to the Electronic Privacy Information Center EPIC, over 40 websites including celltolls.com and locatecell.com have been trading in a black market in call records.

The legislation has kicked the carriers into action. T-Mobile and Verizon filed suit against the sites and the information brokers who provide them with the records. ®