Register

June 26, 1998   Flambeau River Conf. Rm.

Friday   Public Service Commission

1:30 p.m.   610 North Whitney Way

  MADISON, WI

Notice is hereby further given that the building at 610 North Whitney Way is accessible to people in wheelchairs through the main floor entrance (Lobby) on the Whitney Way side of the building. Handicapped parking is available on the south side of the building and the building has some wheelchair accessible rest rooms. Any party with a disability who needs additional accommodations should contact Richard Teslaw at [phone].

Analysis Prepared by the Public Service Commission

Statutory authority: ss. 196.02 (1) and (3), 196.209, 196.219 (3) (h) and 227.11 (2)

Statutes interpreted: ss. 196.19 (1m), 196.196 (3), 196.207, 196.209 and 196.499

On April 28, 1992, the state of Wisconsin enacted 1991 Wis. Act 268. That law created s. 196.207, Stats., establishing minimum requirements that a telecommunications utility must meet in order to offer a telephone caller identification service. On July 5, 1994, the state of Wisconsin enacted 1993 Wis. Act 496. That law amended s. 196.207, Stats., and created s. 196.209, Stats., to further specify and regulate the privacy considerations applicable to telecommunications services:

196.209 Privacy considerations. (1) RULES. The commission shall promulgate rules that establish privacy guidelines applicable to telecommunications services. Notwithstanding any exemptions identified in this chapter, a telecommunications provider is subject to rules promulgated under this subsection and s. 196.66 applies to a violation of this subsection.

(2) RULE REVIEW. At least biennially, the commission shall review and revise as appropriate rules promulgated under sub. (1).

(3) NEW SERVICES. A telecommunications provider introducing a new telecommunications service shall explicitly address privacy considerations before introducing that telecommunications service.

(4) SCOPE. Rules promulgated by the commission under this section and privacy considerations addressed by a telecommunications provider shall include all of the following:

(a) Protection against the outflow of information about users of telecommunications services.

(b) Protection to the users of telecommunications services from receiving privacy intrusions.

Plain Language Analysis

The rule proposed herein establishes a set of procedures to govern the practices of telecommunications providers that affect the privacy of users of telecommunications services. The rule addresses eight related topics.

1 New services. The rule creates a process to identify and review privacy considerations that may exist as a telecommunications utility or telecommunications carrier introduces a new telecommunications service.

2 Caller identification. The rule codifies existing tariff provisions regulating caller identification services. The rule requires incumbent local exchange carriers to provide both per-call and per-line blocking features, at no charge and with no restrictions upon resale or use, to all interconnected competitive local exchange carriers.

3 Non-listed and non-published number services. The rule codifies an existing policy followed by most telecommunications providers regarding these services.

4 Local call detail. The rule requires a telecommunications provider offering basic local exchange service on a measured or per-call basis to provide a summary of the local call detail as part of the monthly telephone bill on an optional basis.

5 Call trace. The rule codifies an existing feature of local telephone service provided by most telecommunications providers.

6 List rental. The rule codifies existing tariff requirements that apply to some list rental agreements.

7 Customer records. The rule codifies existing policies regarding access to customer-specific information maintained by telecommunications providers.

8 Customer proprietary network information. The rule adopts federal policies regarding access to customer proprietary network information maintained by telecommunications providers.

The rule also creates a waiver process to permit the Commission to modify this rule based upon an analysis of the costs and benefits of a provision of the rule as it applies to a specific telecommunications provider.

Finally, the rule adopts on a permanent basis the basic framework for the Telecommunications Privacy Council, pursuant to s. 196.209 (5), Stats.

The Commission initially proposed to adopt a rule on the subject of telecommunications privacy on May 18, 1995. See Wis. Adm. Reg., No. 474, at p. 5, and Comments of the Wis. Leg. Council Staff, Clearinghouse Rule 95-093. Public hearings were held on June 1, 1994, and June 30, 1995. Consideration of the proposed rule was postponed due to recent federal legislation revising the regulation of telecommunications services. The scope of the rule proposed herein is broader and now includes both incumbent and competitive local exchange carriers. The proposed rule is consistent with the privacy provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and the federal administrative rule implementing that section of the Act.

Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

These proposed rules may have an effect on small telecommunications utilities, which are small businesses under s. 196.216, Stats., for the purposes of s. 227.114, Stats. The agency has considered the methods in s. 227.114 (2), Stats., for reducing the impact of the rules on small telecommunications utilities and finds that incorporating any of these methods into the proposed rule would be contrary to the statutory objectives which are the basis for the proposed rule.

At the time of this notice, there are 83 local exchange companies in Wisconsin, 79 of which are small telecommunications equal access utilities. The agency finds that the protection of customer-specific information is in the public interest and that the standards for regulating access to customer-specific information maintained by telecommunications providers should be uniform throughout the state to the maximum extent possible.

The agency also recognizes that the broad scope of the proposed rule may be inappropriate in specific instances. For that reason, the proposed rule creates a procedure for waiving a provision of the rule if the agency finds that the public interest is better served by suspending enforcement of that provision with respect to a specific telecommunications provider.

Fiscal Estimate

These rules will have no fiscal impact on the agency or on any other state or local units of government.

Environmental Analysis

This is a Type III action under s. PSC 4.10 (3), Wis. Adm. Code. No unusual circumstances suggesting the likelihood of significant environmental consequences have come to the Commission's attention. Neither an environmental impact statement under s. 1.11, Stats., nor an environmental assessment is required.

Written Comments

Notice is further given that any person may submit written comments on the proposed rules. The hearing record will be open for written comments from the public effectively immediately, until no later than noon on July 3, 1998. Comments filed by fax are due no later than noon on July 2, 1998.

If filing by mail, courier or hand delivery: Address comments as shown:

Lynda L. Dorr

Secretary to the Commission

Public Service Commission

P.O. Box 7854

Madison, WI 53707-7854

All written comments on the rules must refer to docket 1-AC-138. Industry parties should submit an original and 15 copies. Members of the general public need only file an original. Filings are due by July 3, 1998, at noon.

If filing by fax: Send fax comments as shown:

Lynda L. Dorr

Secretary to the Commission

Public Service Commission

P.O. Box 7854

Madison, WI 53707-7854

Fax No. [phone]

Fax filing cover sheets MUST state “Official Filing,” the docket number (1-AC-138), and the number of pages (limited to 20 pages for fax comments). Filings by fax are due by July 2, 1998, at noon. File by one mode only.

Contact People

If there are questions regarding the hearing, please contact:

Hearing Examiner

Telephone [phone]

Questions pertaining to the proposed rule may be directed to:

Mary M. Stevens, Staff Counsel

Telecommunications Division

Telephone [phone]

Dennis Klaila

Telecommunications Division

Telephone [phone]

Text of Rule

SECTION 1. PSC 165.02(2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10), (11), (12), (13), (14), (15), (16), (17), (18), (19), (20), (21), (22) and (23) are renumbered s. PSC 165.02(3), (4), (7), (8), (12), (13), (14), (15), (16), (18), (19), (20), (21), (22), (23), (24), (27), (31), (32), (36), (37) and (40).

SECTION 2. PSC 165.02 (2) is created to read:

(2) “Automatic number identification (ANI)” means the delivery of the calling party's billing number by a local exchange carrier to any interconnecting carrier for billing or routing purposes, and the subsequent delivery of such number to end users.

SECTION 3. PSC 165.02(5) and (6) are created to read:

(5) “Basic local exchange service” has the meaning set forth in s. 196.01, Stats.

(6) “Basic message telecommunications service” has the meaning set forth in s. 196.01, Stats.

SECTION 4. PSC 165.02 (9), (10) and (11) are created to read:

(9) “Caller identification blocking service” means a telecommunications service that permits a calling party to prevent the transmission of the telephone line identification to calling number delivery subscribers and calling name delivery subscribers.

(10) “Calling name delivery” means a telephone caller identification service in which the subscriber name of an access line used to place a telephone call is transmitted to a telephone caller identification service subscriber.

(11) “Calling number delivery” means a telephone caller identification service in which the telephone number of an access line used to place a telephone call is transmitted to a telephone caller identification service subscriber.

SECTION 5. PSC 165.02 (17) is created to read:

(17) “Customer proprietary network information” means: