WASHINGTON-Ten telecom industry associations urged the Federal Communications Commission not to impose rules designed to protect consumer privacy. In a July 20 letter to the FCC, the groups said the rules were expensive and burdensome.
The associations were joined by the Small Business Administration, which urged the FCC to undertake a further notice of proposed rule making to allow comment on the significant economic impact the rules would have on small entities.
The rules implement Section 222 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which required the FCC to develop rules to protect the privacy of telecom customers in a competitive environment. The information is known as customer proprietary network information, or CPNI.
CPNI rules, slated to be effective Jan. 26, require carriers to develop two system-based mechanized safeguards. One of the safeguards would “flag” customer records to indicate whether customers have consented to have their information used for marketing purposes. Secondly, carriers are required to develop and implement an electronic audit to track access to customer accounts. The mechanism must be capable of recording whenever records are opened, by whom, and for what purpose.
The telecom industry said the FCC did not give adequate notice it would require such detailed record-keeping.
“Essentially we want the FCC to step in before carriers have to spend large sums of money,” said Todd Lantor, PCIA manager of government relations. Some carriers have estimated it would cost between $60,000 and $1 billion to implement this portion of the CPNI rules, Lantor added.
