Dialing while driving is only one of the ways a cell phone can endanger you.

Consider the Los Angeles police detective whose family received a chilling visit from a mobster one day in 1998. According to a recent Associated Press account, the detective’s address and other personal information had been acquired by a business that mines people’s cell phone records for information it can sell.

In the Los Angeles incident, federal authorities took action. The Denver-based company that obtained and sold the detective’s information was shut down and its owner was jailed.

But spotty enforcement efforts haven’t chased off the thieves and thugs who are exploiting Americans’ growing dependency on technology. Today some 30 to 40 online sources offer cell phone records to whoever will pay for them. Police officials in Chicago last month warned officers to advise street informants that contacting them by cell phone could blow their cover.

The problem, which has captured the attention of both state and federal lawmakers, affects more than law enforcement, and it goes far beyond Chicago and Los Angeles. Battered spouses trying to avoid abusive husbands and boyfriends in Spokane are at risk, too. As are whistleblowers telling their stories to news reporters, or an emotionally fragile employee in Coeur d’Alene who fears that seeing a psychiatrist might put his job at risk. The calling pattern logged for a cell phone – whom you call, when, how often – provides a trail of information that can encourage all kinds of unscrupulous uses.

It’s a lucrative business. Brokers charge $100 and up to sell a month’s calling records for whatever number you provide.

Isn’t this activity already illegal? It’s not that simple. University of Washington Law School Prof. Anita Ramasastry says, for example, that while service providers have a legal duty to keep customers’ account information confidential, the law doesn’t spell out a penalty for non-compliance. The law does provide an agency like the FCC with some generic enforcement authority, but it’s so broad that defendants may get off by claiming it’s too vague.

Fortunately, at the federal level, a bipartisan push is under way to provide some needed precision. A bill sponsored by Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Arlen Specter, R-Penn., and others would make the unauthorized collection or sale of personal cell phone records a crime.

In Olympia, meanwhile, state Rep. Pat Sullivan, D-Kent, is sponsoring similar legislation. That would be helpful, but the global nature of telecommunications requires a federal approach. Nearly a decade ago, the pretexting practice was rampant in the banking world, prompting a federal response that has proved effective at protecting consumers. Phone records deserve the same attention.