Cingular's lawsuit charges that these companies or their representatives obtained customer records through fraudulent means, such as by posing as customers seeking information about their own accounts.

"Cingular will not tolerate the theft of customer records," said Joaquin Carbonell, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Cingular Wireless. "We plan to continue fighting cell phone record theft on a number of fronts, including working with law enforcement and policymakers to crack down on websites that offer cell phone records for sale."

Cingular has a few tips for those who want to make it more difficult for third parties to obtain their cell phone records:

In addition, consumers who wish to better protect themselves should follow standard practices to prevent identity theft, such as adding a password to their account, guarding their password and other personal information, and shredding invoices and account information before discarding these documents.

Except, Jackie Schechner on CNN tonight said the producer whose records CNN was able to purchase earlier today did have a password.