Telecommunications Act of 1996

Telecommunications Act of 1996
Short Title	Telecommunications Act of 1996
Official Text	Telecommunications Act of 1996
Country/Jurisdiction	United States
State or Province
Regulatory Bodies	FCC
Date Enacted	1996/02/08
Scope of the Law	Individuals, Cable Service Providers, Cable Operator, Customers
Information
Taxonomy	Breach of Confidentiality, Decisional Interference, Disclosure, Insecurity
Strategies

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The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was amending the Communications Act of 1934. The purpose of the law was the deregulation of the converging broadcasting and telecommunications markets.

Text of the law

‘‘SEC. 254. UNIVERSAL SERVICE.

‘‘(2) ACCESS TO ADVANCED SERVICES.—Access to advanced telecommunications and information services should be provided in all regions of the Nation. ^{Communication, Computer Device} "Personal#list" contains a listed "#" character as part of the property label and has therefore been classified as invalid.

‘‘(3) ACCESS IN RURAL AND HIGH COST AREAS.—Consumers in all regions of the Nation, including low-income consumers and those in rural, insular, and high cost areas, should have access to telecommunications and information services, including interexchange services and advanced telecommunications and information services, that are reasonably comparable to those services provided in urban areas and that are available at rates that are reasonably comparable to rates charged for similar services in urban areas.

‘‘(4) EQUITABLE AND NONDISCRIMINATORY CONTRIBUTIONS.— All providers of telecommunications services should make an equitable and nondiscriminatory contribution to the preservation and advancement of universal service. ^{Insecurity, Decisional Interference}

SEC. 103. EXEMPT TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES. ^Disclosure

‘‘(2) Where a State commission issues an order pursuant to paragraph (1), the State commission shall not publicly disclose trade secrets or sensitive commercial information. ^{Transactional} "Personal#list" contains a listed "#" character as part of the property label and has therefore been classified as invalid.

‘‘(3) Any United States district court located in the State in which the State commission referred to in paragraph (1) is located shall have jurisdiction to enforce compliance with this subsection.

‘‘(4) Nothing in this section shall—

‘‘(A) preempt applicable State law concerning the provision of records and other information; or

‘‘(B) in any way limit rights to obtain records and other information under Federal law, contracts, or otherwise.

‘‘SEC. 273. MANUFACTURING BY BELL OPERATING COMPANIES.

‘‘(2) PROPRIETARY INFORMATION.—Any entity which establishes standards for telecommunications equipment or customer premises equipment, or generic network requirements for such equipment, or certifies telecommunications equipment or customer premises equipment, shall be prohibited from releasing or otherwise using any proprietary information, designated as such by its owner, in its possession as a result of such activity, for any purpose other than purposes authorized in writing by the owner of such information, even after such entity ceases to be so engaged. ^{Computer Device, Ownership} "Personal#list" contains a listed "#" character as part of the property label and has therefore been classified as invalid.

‘‘(5) PROTECTION OF PROPRIETARY INFORMATION.— ^Insecurity

A Bell operating company and any entity it owns or otherwise controls shall protect the proprietary information submitted for procurement decisions from release not specifically authorized by the owner of such information.

SEC. 701. PREVENTION OF UNFAIR BILLING PRACTICES FOR INFORMATION OR SERVICES PROVIDED OVER TOLL-FREE TELEPHONE CALLS.

that are available under title V of this Act.

‘‘(9) CHARGES BY CREDIT, PREPAID, DEBIT, CHARGE, OR CALLING CARD IN ABSENCE OF AGREEMENT.—For purposes of paragraph (7)(C)(ii), a calling party is not charged in accordance with this paragraph unless the calling party is charged by means of a credit, prepaid, debit, charge, or calling card and the information service provider includes in response to each call an introductory disclosure message that—

‘‘(A) clearly states that there is a charge for the call;

‘‘(B) clearly states the service’s total cost per minute and any other fees for the service or for any service to which the caller may be transferred;

‘‘(C) explains that the charges must be billed on either a credit, prepaid, debit, charge, or calling card;

‘‘(D) asks the caller for the card number;

‘‘(E) clearly states that charges for the call begin at the end of the introductory message; and

‘‘(F) clearly states that the caller can hang up at or before the end of the introductory message without incurring any charge whatsoever.

‘‘(10) BYPASS OF INTRODUCTORY DISCLOSURE MESSAGE.— The requirements of paragraph (9) shall not apply to calls from repeat callers using a bypass mechanism to avoid listening to the introductory message: Provided, That information providers shall disable such a bypass mechanism after the institution of any price increase and for a period of time determined to be sufficient by the Federal Trade Commission to give callers adequate and sufficient notice of a price increase.

SEC. 702. PRIVACY OF CUSTOMER INFORMATION.

‘‘SEC. 222. PRIVACY OF CUSTOMER INFORMATION. ^{Breach of Confidentiality, Insecurity}

‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Every telecommunications carrier has a duty to protect the confidentiality of proprietary information of, and relating to, other telecommunication carriers, equipment manufacturers, and customers, including telecommunication carriers reselling telecommunications services provided by a telecommunications carrier.

‘‘(b) CONFIDENTIALITY OF CARRIER INFORMATION.—A telecommunications carrier that receives or obtains proprietary information from another carrier for purposes of providing any telecommunications service shall use such information only for such purpose, and shall not use such information for its own marketing efforts.

‘‘(c) CONFIDENTIALITY OF CUSTOMER PROPRIETARY NETWORK INFORMATION.—

‘‘(1) PRIVACY REQUIREMENTS FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIERS.—Except as required by law or with the approval of the customer, a telecommunications carrier that receives or obtains customer proprietary network information by virtue of its provision of a telecommunications service shall only use, disclose, or permit access to individually identifiable customer proprietary network information in its provision of (A) the telecommunications service from which such information is derived, or (B) services necessary to, or used in, the provision of such telecommunications service, including the publishing of directories. ^{Identifying, Computer Device, Authenticating} "Personal#list" contains a listed "#" character as part of the property label and has therefore been classified as invalid.

‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE ON REQUEST BY CUSTOMERS.—A telecommunications carrier shall disclose customer proprietary network information, upon affirmative written request by the customer, to any person designated by the customer.

‘‘(3) AGGREGATE CUSTOMER INFORMATION.—A telecommunications carrier that receives or obtains customer proprietary network information by virtue of its provision of a telecommunications service may use, disclose, or permit access to aggregate customer information other than for the purposes described in paragraph (1). A local exchange carrier may use, disclose, or permit access to aggregate customer information other than for purposes described in paragraph (1) only if it provides such aggregate information to other carriers or persons on reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms and conditions upon reasonable request therefor.

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