WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission will ask a federal appeals court to review its decision that eliminated FCC rules on how telecommunications carriers use information about their customers.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit Aug. 18 ruled 2-1 that one aspect of the rules governing the use of customer proprietary network information, or CPNI, was unconstitutional. As such, the court declared all the rules void.
CPNI is the information carriers collect about their customers, including name, address, billing and when and where calls are placed. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 required the FCC to develop rules to protect the privacy of telecom customers in a competitive environment. The rules originally were adopted in February 1998.
The FCC has been refining the use of CPNI ever since. The commission’s current iteration of the rules was not being enforced while it re-examined the issue. The FCC issued new rules Aug. 16, only to have the appeals court throw out all of the CPNI rules two days later.
The seemingly obscure rulings from the FCC and the appeals court go to the heart of how carriers market products and services to their customers.
The FCC will ask for both a review by the three-member panel and the entire panel, said Tom Power, senior legal adviser to FCC Chairman William Kennard.
Wireless carriers have complained they should be exempt from CPNI rules because they already are in a competitive environment unlike their landline colleagues. Prior to adopting the FCC’s rules, commercial mobile radio services carriers never had restrictions on the use of CPNI. Wireline carriers always have been restricted in how they can use the information, although the new rules are more stringent. For this reason, the appeals court ruling could be a victory for the wireless industry because the landscape may have changed back to its original form.
