Enforcement Against Pretexter Seen as Broader Message: Comply with FCC Rules
The FCC said late Thurs. it will vote at its July 13 meeting on an enforcement action against data broker 1st Source Information Specialist, d/b/a LocateCell.com. Putting an enforcement item on a meeting agenda is an unusual step at the FCC. It shows how much the agency has changed the way it does business since Chmn. Martin assumed the helm in March 2005, sources said Fri. The FCC under first Enforcement Bureau chief David Solomon refused to put enforcement actions on the agenda, sources said. Solomon headed the bureau from its opening in 1999 until May 2005.
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“I remember trying to do this, and there had always been a reluctance to do it,” a source said. “The old motivation was that we didn’t want people to know. It’s like saying the police are coming to arrest you. We traditionally wouldn’t do that.” A 2nd source said of Solomon: “David is much more of a classic lawyer. He doesn’t like to get into politics.”
Sources also said that from the FCC’s standpoint, putting the enforcement order on the agenda means it will receive publicity well beyond an action listed just in the FCC’s Daily Digest. “It really just kind of boils down to a difference in style,” a regulatory source said: “The current chairman is quite good at messaging in a way that draws attention… Doing an enforcement action is a very effective way to send a message. You get media attention. You get companies’ attention… It puts the fear of God in them -- they really are going to go after us.”
“Maybe they just want to get the message out quickly,” said an industry source. “I don’t have any reason to think it’s more than that. It certainly is an effective way of sending a message.”
CTIA Gen. Counsel Michael Altschul said Martin probably wants to send a message that goes beyond data brokers: “By putting it on the agenda they make a statement not just to other data brokers but to everyone the Commission deals with in an enforcement context… To make the regulatory process work, there must be sanctions for ignoring subpoenas and reporting obligations. This is an important message to send to the nonlicensees and noncarriers who are the subject of FCC investigations.”
LocateCell.com, now offline, has repeatedly been in the news as one of the main data brokers targeted by state and federal officials and by wireless carriers. T-Mobile and Cingular filed lawsuits to stop the company from selling customer phone records. Mo. Attorney Gen. Jay Nixon (D) went to court to block the company from doing business in that state. The Commission will vote on a notice of apparent liability against Locatecell.com alleging “repeated failure to respond to… directives to provide subpoenaed information in connection with the Commission’s CPNI investigation.”
Meanwhile, Martin has yet to circulate among fellow commissioners a final rule on the types of security measures carriers should have to take to protect customer privacy, sources said Fri. The Commission released a notice of proposed rulemaking on the issue Feb. 14.
The FCC will also take up new methodology for setting the reimbursement rate for Telecom Relay Service (TRS) and a petition filed by device maker Medtronic seeking a medical data service allocation of spectrum at 401-402 and 405-406 MHz, according to the sunshine notice for the July meeting. - - Howard Buskirk