Washington – Even as others cited the Fifth Amendment, a former data broker enthralled Congress on Wednesday with a bizarre, behind-the-scenes lesson on how this shadowy industry covertly gathers Americans’ telephone records without subpoenas or warrants.
Some lawmakers gasped and others shook their heads in amazement during testimony from James Rapp, a former data broker run out of the business years ago by police in Colorado.
Rapp described what steps he would use, for example, to locate and steal the credit-card records of Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., saying he would first trick a utility operator to reveal the lawmaker’s home address. He also boasted that he could uncover the bank password of Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., in one hour.
“It’s just playing the game,” said Rapp, who told lawmakers he now cares full time for his elderly mother in Colorado and lives off his family’s savings.
Lawmakers were impressed – and troubled – as Rapp explained how easily customer-service representatives at America’s leading telephone and credit companies can be duped into revealing private account information.
Eleven people identified as data brokers refused to testify during Wednesday’s congressional hearing, invoking their Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate themselves.
They included Colorado state Rep. Jim Welker, R-Loveland, who operated Universal Communications Co., which advertised it could obtain lists of anyone’s telephone calls for $50.
The U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce wanted to see records and interview employees at Universal Communications, according to a letter that surfaced this year from the head of the panel, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas.
Welker in April declined the Republican Party nomination to seek re-election after coming under fire for forwarding an e-mail to constituents and legislators that critics called racist.
Barton promised to press for a broader vote in Congress soon on legislation the panel already approved to outlaw efforts to impersonate customers to trick companies into revealing personal records, a practice known as “pretexting.”
“The more you hear about this pretexting issue, the more frightening it becomes,” said Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo. “I think we really do need to pass the bill.”
DeGette said she also thinks Colorado probably needs to pass legislation regulating private investigators.
“We’re one of very few states that don’t regulate them,” DeGette said.
Brokers have tricked telephone carriers into disclosing private customer information and broken into online accounts, in some cases guessing passwords that were the names of pets, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
“I don’t think we have any privacy at all,” said Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla.
The congressional inquiry was expected to resume today.
Denver Post staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi contributed to this report.
