FCC Set to Issue Notice of Liability Against Pretexter
The FCC is teeing up a notice of apparent liability (NAL) against a data broker for violating customer proprietary network information (CPNI) rules. It’s to be voted on at the FCC’s July 13 agenda meeting. The data broker item is expected to be the highlight of the meeting, which also will include a notice of proposed rulemaking on telecom relay services (TRS) and an order and NPRM addressing rules for wireless medical devices, sources said Fri.
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The FCC also may vote at the July meeting on the Adelphia merger order, after an order started to circulate Thurs., as well as an in-band digital radio order that is also already on circulation on the 8th floor. Consideration of the $17 billion cable deal will help meet FCC Chmn. Martin’s prediction it will be voted on by the middle of July (CD June 22 p11). Adelphia could be approved by commissioners outside a meeting, as industry executives had anticipated, but FCC officials recently indicated they want a meeting vote, said an industry official. The vote to commence a media ownership review at the last meeting “clears the decks and Adelphia now looms as the next major mass media item” at the FCC, said Media Access Project Pres. Andrew Schwartzman.
The FCC issued a notice of proposed rulemaking in Feb. that examined strengthening the agency’s CPNI rules, but to date hasn’t issued a NAL against a pretexter. The FCC has taken other actions as well, including issuing subpoenas seeking details on how the companies obtained phone records and performing its own undercover investigation of companies that sell phone records on the Internet.
Al Gidari, an attorney who works for wireless carriers on CPNI issues, told us Fri. he was pleased the FCC was “finally” issuing an NAL against a pretexter. “The key point is finally, finally, finally,” Gidari said. “We had all of these people taking the 5th this week [CD June 22 p17]. I'm not sure what an NAL is going to accomplish; they've been in contempt of the subpoenas for a while… But I think it’s great, and I wish they had done something sooner.”
Gidari said that pretexters were especially profitable between the time when the first stories broke in Jan. about the sale of Gen. Wesley Clark’s phone records by a company called CellTolls and when the firms were shut down over the last few months. “Waiting this long to put these people out of business allowed them to make a lot of money from when the story broke in Jan. to when they finally ceased,” he said: “They made a small fortune that will never be seen.”
“It’s good to see that the FCC is continuing to pursue companies that have stolen and then are selling American’s phone records on the Internet,” said Robert Douglas, CEO of PrivacyToday.com. “I hope that they will continue to be aggressive in going after these companies. My research shows that the industry has not gone away, that a number of companies under the microscope have opened up with new names and websites… They're like weeds. Pull one and 2 more grow back.”
The FTC in May filed federal court complaints against 5 web-based data brokers (CD May 4 p2) that sell confidential telephone records to 3rd parties, charging them with violating federal law and seeking permanent halt to the sale of the records. Pretexting has been the subject of recurring hearings in the House and Senate, as well as legislation.
The medical data item will address, at least in part, a petition filed by Medtronic seeking a medical data service allocation of spectrum at 401-402 and 405-406 MHz, where medical devices would share the band with weather balloons. Minneapolis-based Medtronic told the FCC the spectrum will allow for greater use of wireless medical devices, such as insulin pumps and neural stimulators.
Medtronic told the FCC last year most commenters on a proposal for medical data service spectrum (MEDS) were in agreement the allocation is necessary. “The commenting parties recognize the promise of a new medical service that will support short-range wireless medical connectivity among a broad range of bodyworn sensors, implanted medical devices, and external monitoring and control equipment in hospital rooms, physicians’ offices, assisted living facilities, and patient homes,” Medtronic said. “Such advanced wireless connectivity will enhance patient quality of life, improve the level of medical care, and substantially lower healthcare costs.”
The FCC at the agenda meeting also is expected to consider a new methodology for setting the reimbursement rate for Telecom Relay Service (TRS). The rate determines how much providers receive from the TRS Fund for services they offer to help hard-of-hearing people communicate. The FCC reportedly will act by the end of June on the current rate, which has been controversial among advocates for the hearing impaired (CD May 3 p14), and then will open a proceeding at the July meeting to determine how the rate should be set in the future.