Telecom Law Monitor : Washington D.C. Telecom Lawyer & Attorney : Kelley Drye & Warren Law Firm : New York, Chicago, Connecticut, New Jersey, Brussels

Compliance with a carrier's CPNI certification obligations has provided steady fodder for this blog, with the annual Omnibus CPNI fines, unusual settlements and consistent enforcement focus from the FCC's enforcement bureau.  With the start of a new year, the CPNI season begins anew.  Yeasterday, the FCC unofficially kicked off the 2012 CPNI certification season with an Enforcement Advisory stressing the requirements of the FCC's CPNI rules. 

The Enforcement Advisory (which is itself almost becoming an annual ritual with the FCC) reminds carriers of the annual March 1 CPNI certification filing deadline, identifies common certification errors and highlights the monetary penalties associated with certification errors and failures to file. The Commission’s issuance of this CPNI Advisory is an indication that the FCC considers the submission of the CPNI certifications to be a high priority., and that its past history of enforcement will not change in the near term   Telecommunications carriers and interconnected VoIP providers should review the advisory carefully to ensure that they are in compliance with the certification obligations of the rules.

• Email This
• Print
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Jameson Dempsey co-authored this blog post.

Hot on the heels of its recent lawsuit against Delta Airlines for alleged violations of the California Online Privacy Protection Act (“CalOPPA”), today the California Attorney General’s Privacy Enforcement and Protection Unit released its highly anticipated mobile privacy report, Privacy on the Go: Recommendations for the Mobile Ecosystem. The report, developed in collaboration with a wide array of industry stakeholders, provides a series of specific recommendations designed to promote “surprise minimization” for users of mobile applications.

• Email This
• Print
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Barbara Miller co-authored this post.

A few years back, the use of deep packet inspection software – software that examines individual data packets in a broadband transmission – to deliver targeted advertising was a hot topic in regulatory and privacy circles.  Those activities spawned a series of cases against the DPI companies and their Internet Service Provider (“ISP”) partners.  In one such case, the ISP just won an important victory closing a potentially troublesome area of liability.  On December 28, 2012, in Kirch v. Embarq Management Co,  the Tenth Circuit held that an ISP was not liable under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (“ECPA”) for authorizing an online advertising company to collect and use certain customer electronic information for the purpose of targeted direct online advertising.  This ruling effectively ends this particular case against Embarq and likely will close a chapter in the deep-packet inspection saga.  However, because the Tenth Circuit’s finding is closely tied to the facts of this case, ISPs should carefully consider potential liability under the ECPA for any actions involving the collection of customer information for purposes other than provision of ISP services.

• Email This
• Print
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Days before tomorrow’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Workshop on Mobile Disclosures, the FCC weighed in with a pair of releases on privacy and security issues raised by mobile devices.  In the first item released on Friday, the FCC is seeking to refresh its record regarding the privacy and data security practices of mobile wireless service providers in light of recent disclosures concerning software developed by CarrierIQ.  The FCC’s Public Notice seeks to update the record in a five-year-old rulemaking proceeding addressing carrier obligations in connection with devices that function on their networks.  In the second item released, the FCC released its staff report on location-based services (LBS).  Consistent with the approach of the Administration and the FTC (as was discussed at our 4th Annual Privacy Seminar), the FCC focused on ways carriers can protect information from misuse or mishandling, transparency in carrier disclosures and maximizing consumer choice in the use of LBS.

Collectively, the releases demonstrate that the FCC will continue to work cooperatively with the FTC and the Administration (including the NTIA) to address privacy issues in the mobile market. The FCC appears to believe it has sufficient statutory authority to act on mobile and device privacy, with its emphasis being on its jurisdiction over carrier practices in connection with both services and devices.

Josh Guyan contributed to this post.
 

• Email This
• Print
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

On July 14, 2011, a joint House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing focused on online privacy policy and perspectives of the ‘big three’ federal agencies with potential jurisdiction over online privacy – the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The hearing, Internet Privacy: The Views of the FTC, the FCC, and NTIA, offered a comprehensive review of the state of online consumer privacy and the appropriate industry and government response to developments in online behavioral advertising and tracking. The hearing comes on the heels of a flurry of online privacy and data security legislation introduced in recent weeks and months. Witnesses included FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, FTC Commissioner Edith Ramirez and NTIA Administrator Lawrence E. Strickling.

The hearing touched on issues including the economic impact of privacy regulation, defining the harms caused by data collection, agency jurisdiction and authority, protecting children, data security, and social networking. Click here for more detail regarding the major themes discussed at the hearing, which expanded the growing legislative record on online privacy and security.

• Email This
• Print
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

On January 21, 2011, Kelley Drye & Warren hosted the seminar and audiocast, "Privacy By Design, Choice, and Transparency: What a New Framework Will Mean for Business and Technology." The seminar highlighted key regulatory and legislative developments in privacy and information security law during the past year.

Click here to listen to the audio recording.

Six experts representing the federal agencies and policymakers integral to recent privacy initiatives spoke during two separate panel sessions. The first panel reviewed and expanded upon the separate privacy frameworks released in December 2010 by the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce. The second panel included FCC representatives and featured a discussion on the confluence of privacy policy and broadband adoption, along with perspectives on the privacy themes of greatest interest to the new Congress. Click here to read an overview of the key takeaways from each panel.
 

• Email This
• Print
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

On January 20, Kelley Drye will host its 3rd annual privacy law seminar:
Privacy by Design, Choice and Transparency: What a New Framework Will Mean for Business and Technology.

As businesses strive to innovate and evolve using new technologies, federal agencies including the FTC and FCC, the Congress, and state regulators are increasing scrutiny on privacy practices in an effort to protect consumers.

On the heels of the FTC’s proposed new framework for protecting consumer privacy, Kelley Drye gathers government leaders from key federal agencies for a discussion about how new privacy regulations and best practices, pending privacy and data security legislation, and enforcement trends are impacting U.S. companies ranging from retailers to telecommunications and technology companies.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

Jessica Rich, Deputy Director, FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection

Josh Gottheimer, Senior Counselor to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski

Peter Swire, Professor of Law, Ohio State University; former Obama Administration Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, National Economic Council; and former Clinton Administration Chief Counselor for Privacy, U.S. Office of Management and Budget

WHEN: Thursday, January 20, 2011, 3:00 – 5:30PM

WHERE: Kelley Drye, 3050 K Street, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC, 20007

Remote access available.

TO REGISTER: Email dcevents@kelleydrye.com
 

• Email This
• Print
• Trackbacks
• Share Link