California Files Suit Against Data Firm

California filed a $10-million lawsuit Tuesday accusing a Florida company of illegally selling cellular telephone call records.

Data Trace USA Inc. “has used fraudulent means to commit outrageous invasions of privacy,” Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer said in a statement.

The suit accuses Data Trace of unfair business practices and of falsely advertising that its services were legal.

Last week, Missouri’s attorney general filed a similar lawsuit against the firm and its Hollywood, Fla.-based owners.

A call to Data Trace seeking comment was not answered Tuesday.

There was no Hollywood, Fla., listing for owner Ilia Nicholas or for several of his alleged aliases cited in the lawsuit.

On its website, Data Trace says all information “will only be obtained legally via private investigators research.”

The suit claims that employees and Nicholas posed as cellphone customers or their agents to obtain call records from service providers. The information was offered for sale through the Data Trace website, the suit contends.

Lockyer said investigators from his office bought the cellphone records of a deputy attorney general for $220 through the company.

The practice of “pretexting” -- when someone calls a phone company pretending to be a customer and persuades it to release sensitive call information -- is illegal when used to obtain financial data. There is no federal law against it specifically for phone records, although one such measure currently is moving through Congress.

However, the lawsuit contends Data Trace violated state and federal laws barring the telephone service providers from giving away confidential information without their customers’ permission.

The suit was filed in San Diego County Superior Court, stating that the company does business in the county and elsewhere in California.

It seeks an order to stop the business practices, restitution for consumers and at least $10 million in penalties.