Leahy's letter came on the heels of recent news report that employees of Verizon Wireless improperly "accessed and viewed" the personal cell phone records of President-elect Barack Obama. Even though the individuals involved in the incident have been fired, the larger problem remains, the senator stated. "Cell phone records provide a wealth of sensitive personal data that can be of great use to criminals, and the unauthorized disclosure of these records can further acts of domestic violence and compromise the safety of law enforcement officers and their families," he wrote.

The Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act amended the federal criminal code to expressly prohibit a telecommunications carrier from obtaining confidential phone records by accessing customer accounts through the Internet, or by fraudulent computer-related activities, without prior authorization. Read more on that topic here.