WSR 98-18-107
PROPOSED RULES
UTILITIES AND TRANSPORTATION
COMMISSION
[Docket No. UT-971514--Filed September 2, 1998, 11:44 a.m.]
Original Notice.
Preproposal statement of inquiry was filed as WSR 97-23-087.
Title of Rule: Privacy in commercial telecommunications; regulating telecommunication company use of customer proprietary network information (CPNI).
Purpose: Establish appropriate privacy protections and implement restrictions on use of CPNI.
Other Identifying Information: Intent: Create WAC 480-120-140 (privacy listings); create WAC 480-120-150, 480-120-151, 480-120-152, 480-120-153 (CPNI and definitions); and remove reference to CPNI and privacy in WAC 480-120-139(5).
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 80.01.040, 80.04.160, 80.36.440.
Summary: The proposal would amend and adopt rules to bring Washington state regulation of CPNI and customer privacy into consistency with federal regulations.
Reasons Supporting Proposal: Improved consumer privacy protection; reduced regulating burden; consistency between state and federal regulations.
Name of Agency Personnel Responsible for Drafting: Rebecca Beaton, 1300 South Evergreen Park Drive S.W., Olympia, WA 98504, (360) 664-1287; Implementation and Enforcement: Carole J. Washburn, Secretary, 1300 South Evergreen Park Drive S.W., Olympia, WA 98504, (360) 664-1174.
Name of Proponent: Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, governmental.
Rule is not necessitated by federal law, federal or state court decision.
Explanation of Rule, its Purpose, and Anticipated Effects: Telecommunications companies petitioned the commission to review provisions in WAC 480-120-139 relating to use of customer information. The Federal Communications Commission in the second report and Order CC No. 96-115 issued rules and federal laws governing the use of customer information. The rules are proposed to both assure consumer safeguards and assure consistency at the state level in the emerging competitive marketplace of local exchange and intraLATA toll services.
Proposal Changes the Following Existing Rules: Repeal WAC 480-120-139(5) removes provisions relating to CPNI and privacy, amends and expands upon them, and transfers them to new sections WAC 480-120-140 and 480-120-150.
No small business economic impact statement has been prepared under chapter 19.85 RCW. There is no fiscal impact as the substance of rules mirror FCC actions; other changes are largely editorial and impose no costs.
RCW 34.05.328 does not apply to this rule adoption. The commission is not an agency to which RCW 34.05.328 applies.
Hearing Location: Commission Hearing Room, Second Floor, Chandler Plaza, 1300 South Evergreen Park Drive S.W., Olympia, WA 98504, on October 28, 1998, at 9:30 a.m.
Assistance for Persons with Disabilities: Contact Pat Valentine by October 26, 1998, TDD (360) 586-8203, or (360) 664-1133.
Submit Written Comments to: Carole J. Washburn, Secretary, P.O. Box 47250, Olympia, WA 98504 or e-mail to <records@wutc.wa.gov>, fax (360) 586-1150, by September 25, 1998. Please include Docket No. UT-971514 in your communication.
Date of Intended Adoption: October 28, 1998.
September 1, 1998
Terrence Stapleton
for Carole J. Washburn
Secretary
OTS-2411.1
NEW SECTION
WAC 480-120-144 Use of privacy listings for telephone solicitation. A telecommunications company may not make telephone solicitation or telemarketing calls using its list of customers with nonpublished or unlisted numbers unless it has notified each such customer at least once in the past year that the company makes such calls to its customers with nonpublished or unlisted numbers and that the customer has a right to request that the company make no such calls.
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NEW SECTION
WAC 480-120-151 Telecommunications carriers' use of customer proprietary network information (CPNI). (1) Any telecommunications carrier may use, disclose, or permit access to CPNI for the purpose of providing or marketing service offerings among the categories of service (i.e., local, interexchange, and CMRS) already subscribed to by the customer from the same carrier, without customer approval.
(a) If a telecommunications carrier provides different categories of service, and a customer subscribes to more than one category of service offered by the carrier, the carrier is permitted to share CPNI among the carrier's affiliated entities that provide a service offering to the customer.
(b) If a telecommunications carrier provides different categories of service, but a customer does not subscribe to more than one offering by the carrier, the carrier is not permitted to share CPNI among the carrier's affiliated entities.
(2) A telecommunications carrier may not use, disclose or permit access to CPNI to market to a customer service offerings that are within a category of service to which the customer does not already subscribe to from that carrier, unless the carrier has customer approval to do so, except as described in (c) of this subsection.
(a) A telecommunications carrier may not use, disclose, or permit access to CPNI derived from its provision of local service, interexchange service, or CMRS, without customer approval, for the provision of customer premises equipment and information services, including call answering, voice mail messaging, voice storage and retrieval services, fax store and forward, and Internet access services. For example, a carrier may not use its local exchange service CPNI to identify customers for the purpose of marketing to those customers related CPE or voice mail service.
(b) A telecommunications carrier may not use, disclose, or permit access to CPNI to identify or track customers who call competing service providers. For example, a local exchange carrier may not use local service CPNI to track all customers who call local service competitors.
(c) A telecommunications carrier may not use, disclose, or permit access to a former customer's CPNI to regain the business of the customer who has switched to another service provider.
(3) A telecommunications carrier may use, disclose, or permit access to CPNI, without customer approval, as described in this subsection.
(a) A telecommunications carrier may use, disclose, or permit access to CPNI, without customer approval, in its provision of inside wiring installation, maintenance, and repair services.
(b) CMRS (wireless telecommunications service) providers may use, disclose, or permit access to CPNI for the purpose of conducting research on the health effects of CMRS.
(c) Local exchange companies and CMRS providers may use CPNI, without customer approval, to market services formerly known as adjunct-to-basic services, such as, but not limited to, speed dialing, computer-provided directory assistance, call monitoring, call tracing, call blocking, call return, repeat dialing, call tracking, call waiting, caller I.D., call forwarding, and certain centrex features.
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NEW SECTION
WAC 480-120-152 Notice and approval required for use of customer proprietary network information (CPNI). (1) A telecommunications carrier must obtain customer approval to use, disclose, or permit access to CPNI to market a customer service to which the customer does not already subscribe from that carrier.
(2) A telecommunications carrier may obtain approval through written, oral or electronic methods.
(3) A telecommunications carrier relying on oral approval must bear the burden of demonstrating that such approval has been given in compliance with the commission's rules.
(4) Approval obtained by a telecommunications carrier for the use of CPNI outside of the customer's total service relationship with the carrier may remain in effect until the customer revokes or limits such approval, so long as the carrier maintains the records of customer notification and approval required in this rule.
(5) A telecommunications carrier must maintain records of notification and approval, whether oral, written or electronic, for at least one year.
(6) Prior to any solicitation for customer approval, a telecommunications carrier must provide a one-time notification to the customer of the customer's right to restrict use of, disclosure of, and access to that customer's CPNI.
(a) A telecommunications carrier may provide notification through oral or written methods.
(b) Customer notification must provide sufficient information to enable the customer to make an informed decision as to whether to permit a carrier to use, disclose, or permit access to, the customer's CPNI.
(i) The notification must state that the customer has a right, and the carrier a duty, under federal law, to protect the confidentiality of CPNI.
(ii) The notification must specify the types of information that constitute CPNI and the specific entities that will receive CPNI, describe the purposes for which CPNI will be used, and inform the customer of his or her right to disapprove those uses, and deny or withdraw access to CPNI at any time.
(iii) The notification must advise the customer of the precise steps the customer must take in order to grant or deny access to CPNI, and must clearly state that a denial of approval will not affect the provision of any services to which the customer subscribes.
(iv) The notification must be comprehensible and must not be misleading.
(v) If written notification is provided, the notice must be clearly legible, use sufficiently large type, and be placed so as to be readily apparent to a customer.
(vi) A carrier may state in the notification that the customer's approval to use CPNI may enhance the carrier's ability to offer products and services tailored to the customer's needs. A carrier also may state in the notification that the customer upon affirmative written request may compel the carrier to disclose CPNI to any person.
(vii) A carrier may not include in the notification any statement attempting to encourage a customer to freeze third party access to CPNI.
(viii) The notification must state that any approval, or denial of approval for the use of CPNI outside of the service to which the customer already subscribes to from that carrier is valid until the customer affirmatively revokes or limits the approval or denial.
(7) A telecommunications carrier's solicitation for approval must be proximate to the notification of a customer's CPNI rights.
(8) A telecommunications carrier's solicitation for approval, if written, must not be a document separate from the notification, even if both documents are included within the same envelope or package.
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NEW SECTION
WAC 480-120-153 Safeguards required for use of customer proprietary network information (CPNI). (1) Telecommunications carriers must implement software that indicates within the first few lines of the first screen of a customer's service record the customer's CPNI approval status and reference the customer's existing service subscription.
(2) Telecommunications carriers must train all personnel who have access to CPNI as to when they are and are not authorized to use CPNI, and carriers must implement an express disciplinary process to deal with violations of the requirement.
(3) Telecommunications carriers must maintain an electronic audit mechanism that tracks access to customer accounts, including when a customer's record is opened, by whom, and for what purpose. Carriers must maintain these contact histories for a minimum period of one year.
(4) Telecommunications carriers must establish a supervisory review process regarding carrier compliance with rules governing outbound marketing situations and must maintain records of carrier compliance for at least one year. Specifically, sales personnel must obtain supervisory approval of any proposed outbound marketing request.
(5) A telecommunications carrier must have a corporate officer, as an agent of the carrier, sign a compliance certificate on an annual basis that the officer has personal knowledge that the carrier is in compliance with the rules of this subpart. A statement explaining how the carrier is in compliance with the rules in this subpart must accompany the certificate.
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NEW SECTION
WAC 480-120-154 Definitions. For purposes of WAC 480-120-150 through 480-120-152, terms have the following meaning:
(1) Affiliate. An affiliate is an entity that directly or indirectly owns or controls, is owned or controlled by, or is under common ownership or control with, another entity.
(2) Customer. A customer of a telecommunications carrier is a person or entity to which the telecommunications carrier is currently providing service.
(3) Commercial mobile radio service (CMRS). Commercial mobile radio service means any mobile (wireless) telecommunications service that is provided for profit that makes interconnected service available to the public or to such classes of eligible users as to be effectively available to a substantial portion of the public.
(4) Customer proprietary network information (CPNI). Customer proprietary network information (CPNI) is either:
(a) Information that relates to the quantity, technical configuration, type, destination, and amount of use of a telecommunications service subscribed to by a customer of a telecommunications carrier, and that is made available to the carrier by the customer solely by virtue of the customer-carrier relationship; or
(b) Information contained in a customer's bill pertaining to telephone exchange service or telephone toll service received by a customer of a carrier. Customer proprietary network information does not include subscriber list information.
(5) Customer premises equipment (CPE). Customer premises equipment (CPE) is equipment employed on the premises of a person (other than a carrier) to originate, route, or terminate telecommunications.
(6) Information service. Information service is the offering of a capability for generating, acquiring, storing, transforming, processing, retrieving, utilizing, or making available information via telecommunications, and includes electronic publishing, but does not include any use of any such capability for the management, control, or operation of a telecommunications system or the management of a telecommunications service.
(7) Local exchange carrier (LEC). A local exchange carrier (LEC) is any person that is engaged in the provision of telephone exchange service or exchange access. For purposes of these rules, the term does not include a person insofar as such person is engaged in the provision of commercial mobile service under 47 U.S.C. 332 (c).
(8) Subscriber list information (SLI). Subscriber list information (SLI) is any information:
(a) Identifying the listed names of subscribers of a carrier and those subscribers' telephone numbers, addresses, or primary advertising classifications (as such classifications are assigned when service is established), or any combination of listed names, numbers, addresses, or classifications; and
(b) That the carrier or an affiliate has published, caused to be published, or accepted for publication in any directory format.
(9) Telecommunications carrier. A telecommunications carrier is any provider of telecommunications services, except that such term does not include aggregators of telecommunications services (as defined in 47 U.S.C. 226(a)(2)). The definition of telecommunications carrier for purposes of these rules does not include CMRS providers, except as a substitute for wire line telecommunications in locations where wire line services are not available.
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