I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 3432

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit the disclosure of

certain information concerning customer’s uses of telephone services,

and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOVEMBER 3, 1993

Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. KREIDLER, Mr. SYNAR, Mr. BRYANT, and Mr.

COOPER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit the

disclosure of certain information concerning customer’s

uses of telephone services, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Telephone Consumer

5 Privacy Protection Act of 1993’’.
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1 TITLE I—PRIVACY OF CUS2 TOMER PROPRIETARY NET3 WORK INFORMATION

4 SEC. 101. AMENDMENT TO THE COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF

5 1934.

6 Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 is

7 amended by adding at the end the following new section:

8 ‘‘SEC. 229. PRIVACY OF CUSTOMER PROPRIETARY NET9 WORK INFORMATION.

10 ‘‘(a) PRIVACY REQUIREMENTS FOR COMMON CAR11 RIERS.—A local exchange carrier—

12 ‘‘(1) shall not, except as required by law or

13 upon the affirmative request of the customer to

14 which the information relates—

15 ‘‘(A) use customer proprietary network in16 formation in the provision of any service other

17 than (i) telephone exchange service or telephone

18 toll service, or (ii) a service necessary to or used

19 in the provision of telephone exchange service

20 or telephone toll service;

21 ‘‘(B) use customer proprietary network in22 formation in the identification or solicitation of

23 potential customers for any service other than

24 the service from which such information is de25 rived;
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1 ‘‘(C) use such information in the provision

2 of customer premises equipment; or

3 ‘‘(D) disclose such information to any affil4 iate of such common carrier or any other per5 son that is not an employee of such carrier;

6 ‘‘(2) shall disclose such information, upon af7 firmative written request by the customer, to any

8 person designated by the customer;

9 ‘‘(3) shall, whenever such common carrier pro10 vides any aggregate information based on customer

11 proprietary network information or any data base or

12 other compilation of customer proprietary informa13 tion to any personnel of such common carrier, or

14 any affiliate of such common carrier, that are en15 gaged in providing any service that is not necessary

16 to the provision of telephone exchange service, or

17 that are engaged in the provision of customer prem18 ises equipment, or to any other person that is not

19 an employee or affiliate of such carrier, notify the

20 Commission of the availability of such aggregate or

21 compiled information and shall provide such aggre22 gate or compiled information on reasonable terms

23 and conditions to any other service or equipment

24 provider upon reasonable request therefor; and
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1 ‘‘(4) shall not discriminate between affiliated

2 and unaffiliated service or equipment providers in

3 providing access to, or in the use and disclosure of,

4 individual and aggregate or compiled information

5 made available consistent with this subsection.

6 ‘‘(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—This section shall

7 not be construed to prohibit the disclosure of customer

8 proprietary network information as necessary—

9 ‘‘(1) to render, bill, and collect for telephone ex10 change service or telephone toll service;

11 ‘‘(2) to render, bill, and collect for any other

12 telecommunications service that the customer has re13 quested;

14 ‘‘(3) to protect the rights or property of the

15 carrier; or

16 ‘‘(4) to protect users of any of those services

17 and other carriers from fraudulent, abusive, or un18 lawful use of or subscription to such service.

19 ‘‘(c) EXEMPTION PERMITTED.—The Commission

20 may, by rule, exempt from the requirements of subsection

21 (a) local exchange carriers that do not have 1,000,000 ag22 gregate nationwide lines installed if the Commission deter23 mines that such exemption is in the public interest or if

24 compliance with the requirements would impose an undue

25 economic burden on the carrier.
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1 ‘‘(d) DUTY TO PROVIDE SUBSCRIBER LIST INFOR2 MATION.—Notwithstanding subsections (a), (b), and (c),

3 a local exchange carrier that provides subscriber list infor4 mation to any affiliated or unaffiliated service provider or

5 person shall provide subscriber list information on a timely

6 and unbundled basis, under nondiscriminatory and reason7 able rates, terms, and conditions, to any person upon rea8 sonable request.

9 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:

10 ‘‘(1) The term ‘customer proprietary network

11 information’ means—

12 ‘‘(A) information which (i) relates to the

13 quantity, technical configuration, type, destina14 tion, and amount of use of telephone exchange

15 service or interexchange telephone service sub16 scribed to by any customer of a telephone oper17 ating company, and (ii) is available to the tele18 phone operating company by virtue of the tele19 phone company-customer relationship;

20 ‘‘(B) information contained in the bills for

21 telephone exchange service or interexchange

22 telephone service received by a customer of a

23 telephone operating company; and

24 ‘‘(C) such other information concerning the

25 customer as is (i) available to the telephone op-
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1 erating company by virtue of the customer’s use

2 of the company’s services, and (ii) specified as

3 within the definition of such term by such rules

4 as the Commission shall prescribe consistent

5 with the public interest,

6 except that such term does not include subscriber

7 list information.

8 ‘‘(2) The term ‘subscriber information’ means

9 any information—

10 ‘‘(A) identifying the names of subscribers

11 of a local exchange carrier and such subscrib12 ers’ telephone numbers, addresses, or advertis13 ing classifications, or any combination of such

14 names, numbers, addresses, or classifications;

15 and

16 ‘‘(B) that the carrier or an affiliate has

17 published or accepted for future publication.

18 ‘‘(3) The term ‘aggregate information’ means

19 collective data that relates to a group or category of

20 services or customers, from which individual cus21 tomer identities or characteristics have been re22 moved.’’.
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1 TITLE II—PRIVACY OF CALLING

2 PARTY INFORMATION

3 SEC. 201. FINDINGS.

4 The Congress finds that:

5 (1) The right of privacy is the central principle

6 that should guide the introduction and use of new

7 telecommunications technologies and services.

8 (2) Caller Identification Service, known as

9 ‘‘Caller ID’’, can provide value to telephone sub10 scribers by identifying the calling party prior to ac11 cepting the call.

12 (3) Interexchange carriers offering ‘‘800’’ and

13 ‘‘900’’ number services often pass a protocol service

14 known as the Automatic Number Identification

15 (‘‘ANI’’) that identifies the calling party’s telephone

16 number to end users.

17 (4) While Caller ID provides value to the called

18 party, it also affects the legitimate privacy interests

19 of the calling party.

20 (5) These privacy interests must be properly

21 balanced to protect the rights of both calling and re22 ceiving party when caller identification services are

23 offered by common carrier.

24 (6) This personal information can be developed

25 into highly sophisticated and possibly intrusive lists
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1 that are subsequently used or sold for marketing

2 and other purposes often without the knowledge or

3 consent of consumers whose information was

4 accessed initially through Caller ID or ANI gen5 erated information.

6 (7) Unrestricted offerings of caller identifica7 tion services may infringe upon some calling parties’

8 expectations of anonymity and privacy in some or all

9 of their telephone transactions.

10 (8) Federal requirements for the offering of

11 caller identification service are necessary to ensure

12 uniform regulation which appropriately balances the

13 rights of both the calling and receiving party when

14 caller identification services are offered by common

15 carriers.

16 SEC. 202. CUSTOMER PRIVACY REQUIREMENTS.

17 (a) AMENDMENT.—Title II of the Communications

18 Act of 1934 is further amended by adding at the end

19 thereof the following new section:

20 ‘‘SEC. 230. CUSTOMER PRIVACY REQUIREMENTS.

21 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:

22 ‘‘(1) The term ‘caller identification service’

23 means a service which makes use of a display device

24 at the called party’s telephone to automatically indi25 cate the telephone number (with or without the area
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1 code) of, or other personally identifying information

2 concerning, any party calling from within the local

3 area or from another area, except that such term

4 does not include an automatic number identification

5 service.

6 ‘‘(2) The term ‘automatic number identifica7 tion’ means an access signaling protocol in common

8 use by common carriers that uses an identifying sig9 nal associated with the use of a subscriber’s tele10 phone to provide billing information or other infor11 mation to the local exchange carrier and to any

12 other interconnecting carriers.

13 ‘‘(3) The term ‘aggregate information’ means

14 collective data that relates to a group or category of

15 services or customers, from which individual cus16 tomer identities or characteristics have been re17 moved.

18 ‘‘(b) CALLING PARTY IDENTIFICATION.—

19 ‘‘(1) RULEMAKING REQUIRED.—The Commis20 sion shall, within 180 days after the date of enact21 ment of this section, prescribe regulations requiring

22 any caller identification service offered by a common

23 carrier, or by any other person that makes use of

24 the facilities of a common carrier, to allow the caller

25 to withhold, on a per-call basis, the display of the
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1 caller’s telephone number, name, or other personally

2 identifying information, from the telephone or other

3 instrument of the individual receiving the call.

4 ‘‘(2) CHARGES FOR WITHHOLDING NUMBERS

5 PROHIBITED.—Such regulations shall prohibit any

6 charges from being imposed on the caller who re7 quests that his or her telephone number be withheld

8 from the recipient of a call placed by the caller.

9 ‘‘(3) NOTIFICATION TO CUSTOMERS.—Such reg10 ulations shall require every common carrier to notify

11 its subscribers that their calls may be identified to

12 a called party not later than—

13 ‘‘(A) 30 days before the common carrier

14 commences to participate in the offering of a

15 call identification service; and

16 ‘‘(B) 60 days after the date such regula17 tions are prescribed, if the private or common

18 carrier is participating in the offering of a call

19 identification service prior to such date.

20 ‘‘(4) EXEMPTIONS.—This subsection does not

21 apply to any of the following:

22 ‘‘(A) A caller identification service which is

23 used solely in connection with calls within the

24 same limited system, including (but not limited
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1 to) a Centrex, virtual private network, or pri2 vate branch exchange system.

3 ‘‘(B) A caller identification service which is

4 used on a public agency’s emergency telephone

5 line or on the line which receives the primary

6 emergency telephone number (911) or on any

7 entity’s emergency assistance poison control

8 telephone line.

9 ‘‘(C) A caller identification service provided

10 in connection with legally authorized call trac11 ing or trapping procedures specifically re12 quested by a law enforcement agency.

13 ‘‘(5) WAIVER.—The regulations prescribed by

14 the Commission under paragraph (1) may waive the

15 requirements of this subsection where compliance

16 with such requirements is not technologically fea17 sible.

18 ‘‘(c) AUTOMATIC NUMBER IDENTIFICATION SERV19 ICES.—

20 ‘‘(1) CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS.—Any common

21 carrier or affiliate of a common carrier providing

22 automatic number identification services to any per23 son shall provide such services under a contract or

24 tariff containing telephone subscriber information
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1 requirements that comply with this subsection. Such

2 requirements shall—

3 ‘‘(A) permit such person to use the tele4 phone number and billing information provided

5 pursuant to the automatic number identifica6 tion service for billing and collection, routing,

7 screening, and completion of the originating

8 telephone subscriber’s call or transaction, or for

9 services directly related to the originating tele10 phone subscriber’s call or transaction;

11 ‘‘(B) prohibit such person from reusing or

12 selling the telephone number or billing informa13 tion provided pursuant to the automatic num14 ber identification service without first orally (i)

15 notifying the originating telephone subscriber

16 and (ii) extending to such subscriber the option

17 to limit or prohibit such reuse or sale; and

18 ‘‘(C) prohibit such person from disclosing,

19 except as permitted by subparagraphs (A) and

20 (B), any information derived from the auto21 matic number identification service for any pur22 pose other than—

23 ‘‘(i) performing the services or trans24 actions that are the subject of the originat25 ing telephone subscriber’s call,
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1 ‘‘(ii) ensuring network performance,

2 security, and the effectiveness of call deliv3 ery,

4 ‘‘(iii) compiling, using, and disclosing

5 aggregate information, and

6 ‘‘(iv) complying with applicable law or

7 legal process.

8 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR ESTABLISHED CUS9 TOMERS.—The customer information requirements

10 imposed under paragraph (1) shall not prevent a

11 person to which automatic number identification

12 services are provided from using—

13 ‘‘(A) the telephone number and billing in14 formation provided pursuant to such service,

15 and

16 ‘‘(B) any information derived from the

17 automatic number identification service, or

18 from the analysis of the characteristics of a

19 telecommunications transmission,

20 to offer, to any telephone subscriber with which such

21 person has an established customer relationship, a

22 product or service that is directly related to the

23 products or service previously acquired by that cus24 tomer from such person.
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1 ‘‘(3) ENFORCEMENT.—(A) Each common car2 rier shall receive and transmit to the Commission

3 complaints concerning violations of the telephone

4 subscriber information requirements imposed under

5 paragraph (1). Each common carrier shall submit to

6 the Commission, in such form as the Commission

7 may require by regulation, reports on actions taken

8 by the carrier to comply with this section.

9 ‘‘(B) The Commission may, by rule or order, di10 rect the termination of automatic number identifica11 tion services to any person who has violated the tele12 phone subscriber information requirements imposed

13 under paragraph (1). For purposes of section

14 503(b)(1)(B), violations of such requirements shall

15 be considered to be a violation of a provision of this

16 Act.

17 ‘‘(4) EFFECTIVE DATE.—(A) Except as pro18 vided in subparagraph (B), the requirements of this

19 subsection shall apply to any automatic number

20 identification service provided on or after one year

21 after the date of enactment of this subsection.

22 ‘‘(B) In the case of any automatic number iden23 tification service provided under a contract entered

24 into, or tariff taking effect, more than 90 days after

25 the date of enactment of this subsection, the require-
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1 ments of this subsection shall apply to any auto2 matic number identification service provided pursu3 ant to such contract or tariff.

4 ‘‘(d) STATE LAW.—Notwithstanding any other provi5 sion of this Act, no State shall prohibit or effectively pre6 vent the provision of caller identification services.’’.

7 SEC. 203. CONFORMING AMENDMENT.

8 Section 2(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 is

9 amended by striking ‘‘Except as provided’’ and all that

10 follows through ‘‘and subject to the provisions’’ and insert11 ing ‘‘Except as provided in sections 223 through 230, in12 clusive, and subject to the provisions’’.

13 SEC. 204. BLOCKING.

14 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent a

15 common carrier, or any other person that makes use of

16 the facilities of a common carrier, from offering services

17 or technology enabling a telephone subscriber receiving a

18 call to block the call, or block the completion of the call,

19 where the caller has chosen to withhold the display of the

20 caller’s telephone number, name, or other personally iden21 tifying information.
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1 TITLE III—ACCESS TO

2 TELEPHONE RECORDS

3 SEC. 301. CLARIFICATION OF APPLICABILITY OF SECTION

4 705 TO CARRIERS AND THEIR EMPLOYEES;

5 SUBSCRIBER NOTIFICATION.

6 Section 705(a) of the Communications Act of 1934

7 (47 U.S.C. 605(a)) is amended by adding at the end the

8 following new sentences: ‘‘The prohibitions contained in

9 this section apply to a person who is a common carrier

10 or an affiliate or employee of a common carrier and who

11 divulges or publishes the existence, contents, substance,

12 purport, effect, or meaning thereof to a person who is not

13 a common carrier or affiliate or employee of a common

14 carrier. Any common carrier that, pursuant to a subpoena

15 issued by a court of competent jurisdiction or on demand

16 of other lawful authority, divulges or publishes a subscrib17 er’s billing information or other information disclosing the

18 existence of any interstate or foreign communication by

19 wire or radio by a subscriber, shall inform such subscriber

20 within 10 days after such information is divulged or pub21 lished of the information divulged or published and the

22 identity of the recipient of the information, unless such

23 carrier is prohibited from so informing such subscriber by

24 order of such court or other lawful authority for the pur-
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1 pose of preventing the subject of a criminal investigation

2 from being informed of its pendency.’’.

3 TITLE IV—PRIVACY OF

4 SUBSCRIBER INFORMATION–

5 SEC. 401. IMPACT OF CONVERGING COMMUNICATIONS

6 TECHNOLOGIES ON CONSUMER PRIVACY.

7 (a) PROCEEDING REQUIRED.—Within 6 months after

8 the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall

9 commence a proceeding—

10 (1) to examine the impact of the integration

11 into interconnected communications networks of

12 wireless telephone, cable, satellite, and other tech13 nologies on the privacy rights and remedies of the

14 consumers of those technologies;

15 (2) to examine the impact that the globalization

16 of such integrated communications networks has on

17 the international dissemination of consumer infor18 mation and the privacy rights and remedies to pro19 tect consumers;

20 (3) to propose changes in the Commission’s reg21 ulations to ensure that the effect on consumer pri22 vacy rights is considered in the introduction of new

23 telecommunications services and that the protection

24 of such privacy rights is incorporated as necessary
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1 in the design of such services or the rules regulating

2 such services;

3 (4) to propose changes in the Commission’s reg4 ulations as necessary to correct any defects identi5 fied pursuant to paragraph (1) in such rights and

6 remedies; and

7 (5) to prepare recommendations to the Con8 gress for any legislative changes required to correct

9 such defects.

10 (b) SUBJECTS FOR EXAMINATION.—In conducting

11 the examination required by subsection (a)(1), the Com12 mission shall determine whether consumers are able, and,

13 if not, the methods by which consumers may be enabled—

14 (1) to have knowledge that consumer informa15 tion is being collected about them through their uti16 lization of various communications technology;

17 (2) to have notice that such information could

18 be used, or is intended to be used, by the entity col19 lecting the data for reasons unrelated to the original

20 communications, or that such information could be

21 sold (or is intended to be sold) to other companies

22 or entities; and

23 (3) to stop the reuse or resale of that informa24 tion.
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1 (c) SCHEDULE FOR COMMISSION RESPONSES.—The

2 Commission shall, within one year after the date of enact3 ment of this Act—

4 (1) complete any rulemaking required to revise

5 Commission regulations to correct defects in such

6 regulations identified pursuant to subsection (a)(1);

7 and

8 (2) submit to the Congress a report containing

9 the recommendations required by subsection (a)(3).

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