While everyone was worrying about their personal data being stolen over the Internet, or out of their garbage bins, it turns out that it was being given away, over the phone, by a perky customer service representative.

If the HP pretexting scandal is any indication, that is.

As Hewlett-Packard Co. assesses the blame in the scandal involving its authorized theft of reporters' phone records, lawmakers and the phone companies themselves are taking a closer look at why the computer giant had such an easy time accessing those records in the first place.

On Friday, wireless carrier Verizon Communications Inc. filed a lawsuit against the HP investigators who stole the phone records, while in Washington, lawmakers and wireless carriers tried to sort out the blame over why it is so easy to obtain supposedly confidential phone records in the first place. You don't actually need to hack into a computer to get this sort of data: just figure out some easy identifying detail, like the person's mother's maiden name, call customer service and say you're someone else.

Other victims of phone record theft told Congress the very public HP scandal was a much-needed wakeup call about the need for better laws banning this theft, and more simple measures like better training of phone companies' customer service staffs.

Wireless company executives say they are stepping up training and adding other safeguards to prevent the unauthorized access to customer records online or over the phone, but also maintain that the bottom line will be better laws.

As CBS MarketWatch reported, the current laws against this sort of theft, "are viewed as largely toothless."

"Regulators lack the authority to assess fines, and the theft of phone records is not explicitly illegal." — Andrea Orr