N.Y. General Business Law § 399-dd*3: Consumer communications records privacy

* § 399-dd. Consumer communications records privacy. 1. For purposes

of this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

(a) "telephone record" means information retained by a telephone

company that relates to the telephone number dialed from the telephone

of a customer or the incoming number of a call directed to the telephone

of a customer, the content of alphanumerical messages sent to or from a

telephone or other data related to such calls typically contained on a

telephone bill of a customer including but not limited to the time the

call started and ended, the duration of the call, the time of day the

call was made and any charges applied, provided, however, that

information commonly known as caller identification or caller ID

information transmitted to or retained by the recipient of a call shall

not constitute a telephone record;

(b) "telephone company" means any person, firm, partnership,

association, limited liability company, corporation, trust, business or

other entity that provides commercial or residential telephone services

to a customer, irrespective of the communications technology used to

provide such service, including, but not limited to, traditional

wireline or cable telephone service; cellular, broadband PCS, or other

wireless telephone service; microwave, satellite, or other terrestrial

telephone service; and voice over Internet telephone service;

(c) "telephone" means any device used by a person for voice

communications, in connection with the services of a telephone company,

whether such voice communications are transmitted in analog, data, or

any other form;

(d) "customer" means the person who subscribes to telephone service

from a telephone company or in whose name such telephone service is

listed; and

(e) "procure" in regard to such a telephone record means to obtain by

any means, whether electronically, in writing or in oral form, with or

without consideration.

2. No person, firm, partnership, association, limited liability

company, corporation, trust, business or other entity shall knowingly

and intentionally procure, attempt to procure, solicit or conspire with

another to procure, offer for sale, sell or fraudulently transfer or use

or attempt to sell or fraudulently transfer or use, telephone record

information from a telephone company, without written authorization from

the customer to whom such telephone record information relates except as

otherwise provided for by applicable law. Nothing in this section shall

be construed so as to prevent any action pursuant to a subpoena or by a

law enforcement agency, or any officer, employee, or agent of such

agency, to obtain telephone record information from a telephone company

in connection with the performance of the official duties thereof, in

accordance with other applicable laws.

3. (a) Whenever the attorney general shall believe from evidence

satisfactory to him or her that there is a violation of this section, he

or she may bring an action in the name and on behalf of the people of

the state of New York, in a court of competent jurisdiction to enjoin

and restrain the continuation of such violation. In such action,

preliminary relief may be granted under article sixty-three of the civil

practice law and rules. In such action, the court may award reasonable

attorney's fees and damages for actual costs or losses incurred by a

customer whose telephone records were sold or fraudulently transferred

or were attempted to be sold or fraudulently transferred. Whenever the

court shall determine in such action that a person or business violated

this section, the court may impose a civil penalty of one thousand

dollars per violation.

(b) The remedies provided by this section shall be in addition to any

other lawful remedy available.

(c) No action may be brought under the provisions of this section

unless such action is commenced within two years immediately after the

date of the act complained of or the date of discovery of such act.

* NB There are 3 § 399-dd's