Targeting both telephone data brokers and telecoms, a House panel today approved legislation that bans the sale, lease or rental of confidential telephone records. The bill also strengthens the ability of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to pursue the thriving online black-market sale of phone data. It is now an express violation of the FTC Act for a person to use false pretenses to obtain or sell confidential phone data, a practice widely known as pretexting. In addition, the legislation mandates that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) write stricter regulations for telecoms to protect the confidential phone data of their customers.