Minnesota’s political representatives at both the state and federal levels have proposed that local telephone company Qwest promise not to sell or share sensitive customer information without written consent from customers. The telephone utility demurred, but has temporarily halted its plans to share customer information—including calling histories—with its various business units. The temporary halt in its plans came quickly after Qwest received hundreds of thousands of complaints from its customers.
Qwest also promised to rewrite its privacy policy which currently indicates that the telephone company will sell consumer personal information to anyone with the money to pay. Qwest’s current policy, mailed to consumers last month, clearly says that Qwest will disclose information to third parties “when it is commercially reasonable.”
How Qwest deals with this will likely rest on a forthcoming FCC decision regarding customer information. In the past, the FCC has ruled that telephone companies must get opt-in permission from customers before sharing information. Qwest won a reversal in court, allowing the regulated utility to use an opt-out system instead. Qwest executives are on record as saying that opt-in systems—where a customer has to agree in the affirmative to having their personal information shared—would be a drag on the economy. They much prefer an opt-out system that allows them to do whatever they like with their customers’ personal information unless and until the customer tells them to stop.
As a result, U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone (D-Minnesota) and Minnesota State Representative Loren Jennings (D-Harris) have said they will introduce legislation at the federal and state levels respectively that would require all telephone companies to obtain written permission from customers before disclosing private information.
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