FCC: Phone Cos. Can Use Customer Info Without Permission
A split Federal Communications Commission has ruled that telephone companies can use private information about their customers and former customers for marketing purposes without their permission.
The Commission, voting 4-1, agreed to let telephone companies use proprietary information they’ve gathered on people without their consent in direct marketing campaigns to win back former customers lost to competitors.
They can also freely use information about the quantity, configuration, type, destination and amount of services to market to existing customers.
Commissioner Gloria Tristani, opposed the move saying she felt control over such information properly belongs in the hands of the customer and not the telephone companies. Allowing companies to use that information without permission violates customer expectations about the privacy of that data.
But the majority led by Chairman William E. Kennard said allowing that information to be used without permission, especially for campaigns to win back lost customers, was “good for competition” in the industry.
