Petition on Emailing Cable Customers Sees Calls for Conditions
Before cable operators can replace paper communications with electronic ones, a host of cable subscriber safeguards are needed, mainly an opt-in option, some local government commenters said in docket 16-126. Friday was the deadline for replies to the NCTA/American Cable Association petition for declaratory ruling that would allow cable operators to send required notices or written information through email to subscribers for whom the operator has a confirmed email address (see 1603080052). One lawyer representing a filer in the proceeding told us the FCC could take up the petition as soon as this fall, if only to give the commissioners a topic that could result in a 5-0 decision.
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One coalition of local governments had multiple suggested conditions on any grant of the petition, in its filing: that subscribers must specify a verified email address first; that those email addresses not be sold or used for marketing; that subscribers should be able to request materials in writing through an email link instead of a phone call; and that those emails shouldn't be used for filling or collections without a clear authorization from subscribers. The coalition also said the various safeguards of the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (Can-Spam) will protect cable subscribers if the industry agrees to federal regulations on communications with customers, such emails are commercial and not transactional or relationship. The coalition members were the cities of Los Angeles, McAllen, Texas, and Livonia, Michigan; the Maryland counties of Anne Arundel, Howard and Montgomery; and local government coalitions TeleCommUnity and the Michigan Coalition to Protect Public Rights-of-Way.
NATOA, pointing to the local governments' suggestions, said in its filing that those conditions plus the compliance requirements of the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce (E-Sign) Act -- with its opt-in option and requirement of affirmative consent for receiving electronic materials -- would ensure subscribers still get information while cutting down the environmental burdens of hard-copy delivery. And NCTA/ACA in joint comments Friday citing support in the record, and the lack of identified harms (see 1605270023), said the Media Bureau should grant the petition and add any notices required under Section 76.1603 -- on rate and service changes -- to any declaratory ruling.
Subscribers would need the condition that cable customers give affirmative assent first to cable operators, the ability to withdraw that consent any time, and the company must inform subscribers of the requirement to keep email addresses up to date, said the Minnesota Association of Community Telecommunications Administrators. It said all that would ensure the industry is following the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act.
The petition is similar to one filed in 2015 by Edison Electric Institute and American Gas Association (see 1503270020), Kansas State Rep. Tom Sloan (R) said. He urged the FCC to issue a decision on that utility petition and to affirm that service-related informational messages sent to wireless and VoIP devices don't violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Sloan said the FCC should decide "the substantive issue of how and when a customer gives a service provider the right to contact that customer electronically is similar in both the energy and telecommunications dockets," with both in essence seeking clarification of FCC rules. Sloan is a member of the FCC Intergovernmental Advisory Committee.