Alabama PSC Rejects GTL Sanctions Case as Defying Common Sense, Vindictive
The Alabama Public Service Commission disputed Global Tel*Link’s arguments and call for the FCC to impose further sanctions on the APSC and one of its officials who made filings in the inmate calling service rulemaking. Global Tel*Link wants the APSC…
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and Utilities Service Division Director Darrell Baker punished for their responses his release of confidential data in violation of a protective order (see 1510050034">1510050034). The remedial measures the APSC took to prevent further data breaches are sufficient, said APSC Executive Director John Garner in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 12-375. GTL “incorrectly concluded” that a Baker email, responding to an FCC staffer, violated a Wireline Bureau order barring him from participating in the ICS proceeding, Garner said. The bureau order and APSC measures prohibited Baker from making filings on substantive ICS issues, not from responding to FCC informational queries on his inadvertent release of confidential data from GTL and other ICS providers, said Garner. “The FCC order directed Mr. Baker to respond to the matters addressed herein. ... GTL's interpretation of the APSC's measures would suggest that the FCC, by directing Mr. Baker to respond, was inviting Mr. Baker to violate the APSC's remedial measures by responding to the Order. This interpretation defies common sense,” Garner said. “Mr. Baker made a mistake. The APSC has taken actions to remedy that mistake. GTL's motive in this matter appears less about the violation of the Protective Order and more about seizing an opportunity to attack an individual who has championed the ICS reform effort.” The FCC should focus on the actual data breach -- "which was a hasty mistake by an APSC employee who has devoted himself to this cause" -- and on the APSC's response, Garner said: "Great weight should be given to the fact that there have been no further instances of non-compliance with the terms of the Protective Order. Indeed, the remedial measures implemented by the APSC address the real issues in this cause and are adequate to ensure that there will be no future violations of the Protective Order."