WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission last week asked a federal appeals court in Denver for a rehearing of a recent decision that vacated agency rules on consumer privacy rights.
“The majority decision expands the reach of the First Amendment to protect the commercial exploitation by telephone companies of sensitive personal information about the calling habits of subscribers, most of them captive customers who have no alternative to their telephone companies’ monopoly service,” the FCC petition stated.
On Aug. 18, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit threw out FCC customer proprietary network information rules, saying they are unconstitutional. The decision puts CPNI rules in limbo.
CPNI rules, written into the 1996 telecom act, govern how telecom carriers use data about customers. Such information includes names, addresses and calling patterns of subscribers. Customer information can be highly valuable to carriers for marketing products and services.
Wireless carriers argue they should be exempt from CPNI rules because, unlike the landline industry, they operate in a competitive environment.
