Source: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB523
Timestamp: 2020-02-20 21:25:48
Document Index: 441274334

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 6', 'art 6', 'art 6', 'art 6', 'art 3', 'art 6', 'art 6', 'art 6', 'art 6', 'art 3', 'art 6', 'art 6', 'art 3', 'art 6', 'art 6', 'art 3', 'art 6', 'art 6', 'art 3', 'art 64']

Bill Text - AB-523 Telecommunications: customer right of privacy.
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AB-523 Telecommunications: customer right of privacy.(2019-2020)
AB523:v97#DOCUMENT
An act to amend Section 6254 of the Government Code, and to amend Section 2891 2891.1 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to telecommunications.
AB 523, as amended, Irwin. Telecommunications: customer right of privacy.
Existing federal law, as implemented by the Federal Communications Commission, authorizes telecommunications carriers to use customer proprietary network information, as defined, and other customer information for certain purposes, subject to specified restrictions and requirements.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. Existing law prescribes the circumstances under which telephone and telegraph corporations may release specified information regarding residential subscribers without their written consent. prohibits a provider of mobile telephony services, or any direct or indirect affiliate or agent of a provider, from including the dialing number or a subscriber in a directory or selling the contents of a directory database without first obtaining the express content of the subscriber.
This bill would apply these written consent requirements for releasing information to noncommercial rather than residential subscribers. The bill would expand the information to which the restrictions on release apply, to include geolocation information and other customer proprietary network information. The bill would add specified telephony service and subpoena-related exceptions to these written consent requirements. The bill would permit a telephone corporation to share customer proprietary network information of a mobile telephony services subscriber with its agents and affiliates that provide communications-related services for the purpose of marketing communications-related services to that subscriber if the telephone corporation obtains the written consent of the subscriber or if the telephone corporation does not receive an objection pursuant to a specified federal opt-out approval mechanism. prohibit a provider of mobile telephony services, or any direct or indirect affiliate or agent of the provider, except as provided, from disclosing a subscriber’s historical, current, or prospective cell site location without first obtaining the express consent of the subscriber.
The California Public Record Act requires state and local agencies to make their records available for public inspection, unless an exemption from disclosure applies. The act declares that access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state. The act exempts certain records from the disclosure requirement, including record of telephone numbers obtained by certain public agencies for specified purposes.
This bill would exempt from the disclosure requirements of the act records of cell site locations obtained by certain public agencies for specified purposes.
(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subdivision, commencing July 1, 2019, a video or audio recording that relates to a critical incident, as defined in subparagraph (C), may be withheld only as follows:
(A) (i) During an active criminal or administrative investigation, disclosure of a recording related to a critical incident may be delayed for no longer than 45 calendar days after the date the agency knew or reasonably should have known about the incident, if, based on the facts and circumstances depicted in the recording, disclosure would substantially interfere with the investigation, such as by endangering the safety of a witness or a confidential source. If an agency delays disclosure pursuant to this paragraph, the agency shall provide in writing to the requester the specific basis for the agency’s determination that disclosure would substantially interfere with the investigation and the estimated date for disclosure.
(ii) After 45 days from the date the agency knew or reasonably should have known about the incident, and up to one year from that date, the agency may continue to delay disclosure of a recording if the agency demonstrates that disclosure would substantially interfere with the investigation. After one year from the date the agency knew or reasonably should have known about the incident, the agency may continue to delay disclosure of a recording only if the agency demonstrates by clear and convincing evidence that disclosure would substantially interfere with the investigation. If an agency delays disclosure pursuant to this clause, the agency shall promptly provide in writing to the requester the specific basis for the agency’s determination that the interest in preventing interference with an active investigation outweighs the public interest in disclosure and provide the estimated date for the disclosure. The agency shall reassess withholding and notify the requester every 30 days. A recording withheld by the agency shall be disclosed promptly when the specific basis for withholding is resolved.
(B) (i) If the agency demonstrates, on the facts of the particular case, that the public interest in withholding a video or audio recording clearly outweighs the public interest in disclosure because the release of the recording would, based on the facts and circumstances depicted in the recording, violate the reasonable expectation of privacy of a subject depicted in the recording, the agency shall provide in writing to the requester the specific basis for the expectation of privacy and the public interest served by withholding the recording and may use redaction technology, including blurring or distorting images or audio, to obscure those specific portions of the recording that protect that interest. However, the redaction shall not interfere with the viewer’s ability to fully, completely, and accurately comprehend the events captured in the recording and the recording shall not otherwise be edited or altered.
(ii) Except as provided in clause (iii), if the agency demonstrates that the reasonable expectation of privacy of a subject depicted in the recording cannot adequately be protected through redaction as described in clause (i) and that interest outweighs the public interest in disclosure, the agency may withhold the recording from the public, except that the recording, either redacted as provided in clause (i) or unredacted, shall be disclosed promptly, upon request, to any of the following:
(I) The subject of the recording whose privacy is to be protected, or his or her the subject’s authorized representative.
(II) If the subject is a minor, the parent or legal guardian of the subject whose privacy is to be protected.
(III) If the subject whose privacy is to be protected is deceased, an heir, beneficiary, designated immediate family member, or authorized legal representative of the deceased subject whose privacy is to be protected.
(iii) If disclosure pursuant to clause (ii) would substantially interfere with an active criminal or administrative investigation, the agency shall provide in writing to the requester the specific basis for the agency’s determination that disclosure would substantially interfere with the investigation, and provide the video or audio recording. Thereafter, the recording may be withheld by the agency for 45 calendar days, subject to extensions as set forth in clause (ii) of subparagraph (A).
(C) For purposes of this paragraph, a video or audio recording relates to a critical incident if it depicts any of the following incidents:
(ii) An incident in which the use of force by a peace officer or custodial officer against a person resulted in death or in great bodily injury.
(D) An agency may provide greater public access to video or audio recordings than the minimum standards set forth in this paragraph.
(E) This paragraph does not alter, limit, or negate any other rights, remedies, or obligations with respect to public records regarding an incident other than a critical incident as described in subparagraph (C).
(F) For purposes of this paragraph, a peace officer does not include any peace officer employed by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
(n) Statements of personal worth or personal financial data required by a licensing agency and filed by an applicant with the licensing agency to establish his or her the applicant’s personal qualification for the license, certificate, or permit applied for.
(p) (1) Records of state agencies related to activities governed by Chapter 10.3 (commencing with Section 3512), Chapter 10.5 (commencing with Section 3525), and Chapter 12 (commencing with Section 3560) of Division 4, that reveal a state agency’s deliberative processes, impressions, evaluations, opinions, recommendations, meeting minutes, research, work products, theories, or strategy, or that provide instruction, advice, or training to employees who do not have full collective bargaining and representation rights under these chapters. This paragraph shall not be construed to limit the disclosure duties of a state agency with respect to any other records relating to the activities governed by the employee relations acts referred to in this paragraph.
(2) Records of local agencies related to activities governed by Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 3500) of Division 4, that reveal a local agency’s deliberative processes, impressions, evaluations, opinions, recommendations, meeting minutes, research, work products, theories, or strategy, or that provide instruction, advice, or training to employees who do not have full collective bargaining and representation rights under that chapter. This paragraph shall not be construed to limit the disclosure duties of a local agency with respect to any other records relating to the activities governed by the employee relations act referred to in this paragraph.
(u) (1) Information contained in applications for licenses to carry firearms issued pursuant to Section 26150, 26155, 26170, or 26215 of the Penal Code by the sheriff of a county or the chief or other head of a municipal police department that indicates when or where the applicant is vulnerable to attack or that concerns the applicant’s medical or psychological history or that of members of his or her the applicant’s family.
(v) (1) Records of the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board and the State Department of Health Care Services related to activities governed by former Part 6.3 (commencing with Section 12695), former Part 6.5 (commencing with Section 12700), Part 6.6 (commencing with Section 12739.5), or Part 6.7 (commencing with Section 12739.70) of Division 2 of the Insurance Code, or Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 15810) or Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 15870) of Part 3.3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and that reveal any of the following:
(2) (A) Except for the portion of a contract that contains the rates of payment, contracts entered into pursuant to former Part 6.3 (commencing with Section 12695), former Part 6.5 (commencing with Section 12700), Part 6.6 (commencing with Section 12739.5), or Part 6.7 (commencing with Section 12739.70) of Division 2 of the Insurance Code, or Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 15810) or Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 15870) of Part 3.3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, on or after July 1, 1991, shall be open to inspection one year after their effective dates.
(y) (1) Records of the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board and the State Department of Health Care Services related to activities governed by Part 6.2 (commencing with Section 12693) or former Part 6.4 (commencing with Section 12699.50) of Division 2 of the Insurance Code or Sections 14005.26 and 14005.27 of, or Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 15850) of Part 3.3 of Division 9 of, the Welfare and Institutions Code, if the records reveal any of the following:
(2) (A) Except for the portion of a contract that contains the rates of payment, contracts entered into pursuant to Part 6.2 (commencing with Section 12693) or former Part 6.4 (commencing with Section 12699.50) of Division 2 of the Insurance Code, on or after January 1, 1998, or Sections 14005.26 and 14005.27 of, or Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 15850) of Part 3.3 of Division 9 of, the Welfare and Institutions Code shall be open to inspection one year after their effective dates.
(B) If a contract entered into pursuant to Part 6.2 (commencing with Section 12693) or former Part 6.4 (commencing with Section 12699.50) of Division 2 of the Insurance Code or Sections 14005.26 and 14005.27 of, or Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 15850) of Part 3.3 of Division 9 of, the Welfare and Institutions Code, is amended, the amendment shall be open to inspection one year after the effective date of the amendment.
(z) Records obtained pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (f) of of, or subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (g) of, Section 2891.1 of the Public Utilities Code.
(B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), the portions of records containing trade secrets shall be available for review by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, California State Auditor’s Office, Division of Workers’ Compensation, and the Department of Insurance to ensure compliance with applicable law.
(i) Personal papers and correspondence of any person providing assistance to the fund when that person has requested in writing that his or her the person’s papers and correspondence be kept private and confidential. Those papers and correspondence shall become public records if the written request is withdrawn, or upon order of the fund.
(B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), the portions of records containing proprietary information, or any information specified in subparagraph (A) shall be available for review by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, California State Auditor’s Office, Division of Workers’ Compensation, and the Department of Insurance to ensure compliance with applicable law.
Section 2891.1 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:
2891.1.
(a) Notwithstanding Section 2891, a telephone corporation selling or licensing lists of residential subscribers shall not include the telephone number of any subscriber assigned an unlisted or unpublished access number. A subscriber may waive all or part of the protection provided by this subdivision through written notice to the telephone corporation.
(b) Notwithstanding Section 2891, a provider of mobile telephony services, or any direct or indirect affiliate or agent of a provider, providing the name and dialing number of a subscriber for inclusion in any directory of any form, or selling the contents of any directory database, or any portion or segment thereof, shall not include the dialing number of any subscriber without first obtaining the express consent of that subscriber. The express consent shall meet all of the following requirements:
(1) It shall be one of the following:
(A) A separate document that is signed and dated by the subscriber, and that is not attached to any other document.
(B) An affirmative response made on a separate field on an Internet Web site internet website where there is no default. The provider of mobile telephony services shall send a confirmation notice to the subscriber’s electronic mail address, or to a subscriber’s postal mail address if the subscriber does not have an electronic mail account.
(2) It shall be unambiguous, legible, and conspicuously disclose that, by opting in, the subscriber is consenting to have the subscriber’s dialing number sold or licensed as part of a list of subscribers and the subscriber’s dialing number may be included in a publicly available directory.
(3) If, under the subscriber’s calling plan, the subscriber may be billed for receiving unsolicited calls or text messaging from a telemarketer, the provider’s form shall include an unambiguous and legible disclosure statement that, by consenting to have the subscriber’s dialing number sold or licensed as part of a list of subscribers or included in a publicly available directory, the subscriber may incur additional charges for receiving unsolicited calls or text messages.
(c) Nothing in this section prohibits a subscriber of mobile telephony services from voluntarily entering into an agreement for the placement of his or her the subscriber’s name and mobile telephony dialing number in any advertising program if the agreement satisfies the express consent requirements of this section.
(d) A subscriber who provides express prior consent pursuant to subdivision (b) may revoke that consent at any time. A provider of mobile telephony services shall comply with the subscriber’s request to opt out within a reasonable period of time, not to exceed 60 days.
(e) A subscriber shall not be charged for making the choice to not have their name and mobile telephony dialing number be listed in a publicly available directory assistance database.
(f) This section does not apply to the provision of telephone numbers to the following parties for the purposes indicated:
(1) To a collection agency, to the extent disclosures made by the agency are supervised by the commission, exclusively for the collection of unpaid debts.
(2) (A) To any law enforcement agency, fire protection agency, public health agency, public environmental health agency, city or county emergency services planning agency, or private for-profit agency operating under contract with, and at the direction of, one or more of these agencies, for the exclusive purpose of responding to a 911 call or communicating an imminent threat to life or property.
(B) Any information or records provided to a private for-profit agency pursuant to this subdivision shall be held in confidence by that agency and by any individual employed by or associated with that agency. This information or these records shall not be open to examination for any purpose not directly connected with the administration of the services specified in subdivision (e) of Section 2872 or this paragraph.
(3) To a lawful process issued under state or federal law.
(4) To a telephone corporation providing service between service areas for the provision to the subscriber of telephone service between service areas, or to third parties for the limited purpose of providing billing services.
(5) To a telephone corporation to effectuate a customer’s request to transfer the customer’s assigned telephone number from the customer’s existing provider of telecommunications services to a new provider of telecommunications services.
(6) To the commission pursuant to its jurisdiction and control over telephone and telegraph corporations.
(g) (1) A provider of mobile telephony services, or any direct or indirect affiliate or agent of a provider, shall not disclose a subscriber’s historical, current, or prospective cell site location information without first obtaining the express consent of the subscriber, except for the following:
(A) To any law enforcement agency, fire protection agency, public health agency, public environmental health agency, city or county emergency services planning agency, or private for-profit agency operating under contract with, and at the direction of, one or more of those public agencies, for the sole purpose of responding to a 911 call, communicating an imminent threat to life or property, or testing the systems that respond to 911 calls.
(B) Pursuant to a particularized court-ordered warrant.
(2) The provider shall obtain express consent by means that meet both of the following requirements:
(A) The consent shall be provided by the subscriber in one of the following forms:
(i) A separate document that is signed and dated by the subscriber and that is not attached to any other document.
(ii) A separate field on the provider’s internet website where there is no default and where the subscriber provides an affirmative response to consent to the disclosure. The provider shall send a confirmation notice to the subscriber’s electronic mail address or to a subscriber’s postal mail address if the subscriber does not have an electronic mail account.
(B) The means of obtaining that consent shall be unambiguous, legible, and conspicuously disclose all of the following:
(i) That, by opting in, the subscriber is consenting to the disclosure of the subscriber’s cell site location information.
(ii) The identity of the parties to whom the cell site location information will be disclosed.
(iii) The subscriber’s right to revoke consent at any time.
(h) Every deliberate violation of this section is grounds for a civil suit by the aggrieved subscriber against the organization or corporation and its employees responsible for the violation.
(i) For purposes of this section, “unpublished or unlisted access number” means a telephone, telex, teletex, facsimile, computer modem, or any other code number that is assigned to a subscriber by a telephone or telegraph corporation for the receipt of communications initiated by other telephone or telegraph customers and that the subscriber has requested that the telephone or telegraph corporation keep in confidence.
(j) No telephone corporation, nor any official or employee thereof, shall be subject to criminal or civil liability for the release of customer information as authorized by this section.
The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of this act, which amends Section 6254 of the Government Code, imposes a limitation on the public’s right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:
The Legislature finds that protecting the privacy interests of subscribers of mobile telephony services over their cell site location that are obtained by law enforcement agencies, fire protection agencies, public health agencies, and city or county emergency services planning agencies outweighs the interests of the public in obtaining that information.
The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of this act, which amends Section 6254 of the Government Code, furthers, within the meaning of paragraph (7) of subdivision (b) of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution, the purposes of that constitutional section as it relates to the right of public access to the meetings of local public bodies or the writings of local public officials and local agencies. Pursuant to paragraph (7) of subdivision (b) of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution, the Legislature makes the following findings:
The act balances the right of the public to access information regarding cell site location obtained by law enforcement agencies, fire protection agencies, public health agencies, and city or county emergency services planning agencies and the privacy interests of subscribers of mobile telephony services, thereby furthering the purposes of paragraph (7) of subdivision (b) of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution.
SECTION 1.Section 2891 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:
(a)A telephone or telegraph corporation shall not make available to any other person or corporation, without first obtaining a noncommercial subscriber’s written consent, any of the following information:
(1)The customer proprietary network information of the noncommercial subscriber, which includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:
(A)The noncommercial subscriber’s personal calling patterns, including any listing of the telephone or other access numbers called by the noncommercial subscriber, but excluding the identification to the person called of the person calling and the telephone number from which the call was placed, subject to the restrictions in Section 2893, and also excluding billing information concerning the person calling that federal law or regulation requires a telephone corporation to provide to the person called.
(B)The noncommercial services that the subscriber purchases from the corporation or from independent suppliers of information services who use the corporation’s telephone or telegraph line to provide service to the noncommercial subscriber.
(C)Demographic information about individual noncommercial subscribers, or aggregate information from which individual identities and characteristics have not been removed.
(D)The geolocation information of the noncommercial subscriber.
(2)The noncommercial subscriber’s credit or other personal financial information, except when the corporation is ordered by the commission to provide this information to any electrical, gas, heat, telephone, telegraph, or water corporation, or centralized credit check system, for the purpose of determining the creditworthiness of new utility subscribers.
(b)Any noncommercial subscriber who gives written consent for the release of one or more of the categories of personal information specified in subdivision (a) shall be informed by the telephone or telegraph corporation regarding the identity of each person or corporation to whom the information has been released, upon written request. The corporation shall notify every noncommercial subscriber of the provisions of this subdivision whenever consent is requested pursuant to this subdivision.
(c)Any noncommercial subscriber who has, pursuant to subdivision (b), given written consent for the release of one or more of the categories of personal information specified in subdivision (a) may rescind this consent upon submission of a written notice to the telephone or telegraph corporation. The corporation shall cease to make available any personal information about the subscriber within 30 days following receipt of notice given pursuant to this subdivision.
(d)This section does not apply to any of the following:
(1)Information provided by noncommercial subscribers for inclusion in the corporation’s directory of subscribers.
(2)Information customarily provided by the corporation through directory assistance services.
(3)Postal ZIP Code information.
(4)Information provided under supervision of the commission to a collection agency by the telephone corporation exclusively for the collection of unpaid debts.
(5)Information provided to an emergency service agency responding to a 911 telephone call or any other call communicating an imminent threat to life or property.
(6)Information provided to a law enforcement agency in response to lawful process.
(7)Information that is required by the commission pursuant to its jurisdiction and control over telephone and telegraph corporations.
(8)Information transmitted between telephone or telegraph corporations pursuant to the furnishing of telephone service between or within service areas.
(9)Information required to be provided by the corporation pursuant to rules and orders of the commission or the Federal Communications Commission regarding the provision over telephone lines by parties other than the telephone and telegraph corporations of telephone or information services.
(10)The name and address of the lifeline customers of a telephone corporation provided by that telephone corporation to a public utility for the sole purpose of low-income ratepayer assistance outreach efforts. The telephone corporation receiving the information request pursuant to this paragraph may charge the requesting utility for the cost of the search and release of the requested information.
(11)Information provided in response to a request pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 530.8 of the Penal Code.
(12)Information required to deliver mobile telephony service to the noncommercial subscriber.
(13)Information required during a customer-initiated transaction to effectuate a change in the mobile telephony service of the noncommercial subscriber.
(14)Information provided by a telephone corporation in response to a subpoena by a local government for an audit or inspection of the telephone corporation’s records for the collection of a tax, fee, or other charge by the local government.
(e)Subject to obtaining the express written consent or federal opt-out approval of the subscriber, a telephone corporation may share customer proprietary network information of a mobile telephony services subscriber with its agents and affiliates that provide communications-related services for the purpose of marketing communications-related services to that subscriber.
(f)Every violation of this section is a grounds for a civil suit by the aggrieved noncommercial subscriber against the telephone or telegraph corporation and its employees responsible for the violation.
(g)For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1)“Access number” means a telex, teletex, facsimile, computer modem, or any other code which is used by a noncommercial subscriber of a telephone or telegraph corporation to direct a communication to another subscriber of the same or another telephone or telegraph corporation.
(2)“Affiliate” has the same meaning as defined in Section 153 of Title 47 of the United States Code.
(3)“Communications-related services” has the same meaning as defined in Section 64.2003(e) of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(4)“Customer proprietary network information” means customer proprietary network information as defined in Section 222(h)(1) of Title 47 of the United States Code and as interpreted by the Federal Communications Commission, including in Declaratory Ruling 13-89 (June 27, 2013), In the Matter of Implementation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996: Telecommunications Carriers’ Use of Customer Proprietary Network Information and Other Customer Information, CC Docket No. 96-155.
(5)“Federal opt-out approval” means the “opt-out approval” method for obtaining customer consent to use, disclose, or permit access to the customer’s customer proprietary network information adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in Subpart U (commencing with Section 64.2001) of Part 64 of Subchapter B of Chapter I of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(6)“Geolocation” means information related to the physical or geographical location of a noncommercial subscriber or the noncommercial subscriber’s mobile communications device, regardless of the particular technological method used to obtain this information.