Section 2891 Of Article 3. Customer Right Of Privacy From California Public Utilities Code >> Division 1. >> Part 2. >> Chapter 10. >> Article 3.
2891
. (a) No telephone or telegraph corporation shall make
available to any other person or corporation, without first obtaining
the residential subscriber's consent, in writing, any of the
following information:
(1) The subscriber's personal calling patterns, including any
listing of the telephone or other access numbers called by the
subscriber, but excluding the identification to the person called of
the person calling and the telephone number from which the call was
placed, subject to the restrictions in Section 2893, and also
excluding billing information concerning the person calling which
federal law or regulation requires a telephone corporation to provide
to the person called.
(2) The residential subscriber's credit or other personal
financial information, except when the corporation is ordered by the
commission to provide this information to any electrical, gas, heat,
telephone, telegraph, or water corporation, or centralized credit
check system, for the purpose of determining the creditworthiness of
new utility subscribers.
(3) The services which the residential subscriber purchases from
the corporation or from independent suppliers of information services
who use the corporation's telephone or telegraph line to provide
service to the residential subscriber.
(4) Demographic information about individual residential
subscribers, or aggregate information from which individual
identities and characteristics have not been removed.
(b) Any residential subscriber who gives his or her written
consent for the release of one or more of the categories of personal
information specified in subdivision (a) shall be informed by the
telephone or telegraph corporation regarding the identity of each
person or corporation to whom the information has been released, upon
written request. The corporation shall notify every residential
subscriber of the provisions of this subdivision whenever consent is
requested pursuant to this subdivision.
(c) Any residential subscriber who has, pursuant to subdivision
(b), given written consent for the release of one or more of the
categories of personal information specified in subdivision (a) may
rescind this consent upon submission of a written notice to the
telephone or telegraph corporation. The corporation shall cease to
make available any personal information about the subscriber, within
30 days following receipt of notice given pursuant to this
subdivision.
(d) This section does not apply to any of the following:
(1) Information provided by residential subscribers for inclusion
in the corporation's directory of subscribers.
(2) Information customarily provided by the corporation through
directory assistance services.
(3) Postal ZIP Code information.
(4) Information provided under supervision of the commission to a
collection agency by the telephone corporation exclusively for the
collection of unpaid debts.
(5) Information provided to an emergency service agency responding
to a 911 telephone call or any other call communicating an imminent
threat to life or property.
(6) Information provided to a law enforcement agency in response
to lawful process.
(7) Information which is required by the commission pursuant to
its jurisdiction and control over telephone and telegraph
corporations.
(8) Information transmitted between telephone or telegraph
corporations pursuant to the furnishing of telephone service between
or within service areas.
(9) Information required to be provided by the corporation
pursuant to rules and orders of the commission or the Federal
Communications Commission regarding the provision over telephone
lines by parties other than the telephone and telegraph corporations
of telephone or information services.
(10) The name and address of the lifeline customers of a telephone
corporation provided by that telephone corporation to a public
utility for the sole purpose of low-income ratepayer assistance
outreach efforts. The telephone corporation receiving the information
request pursuant to this paragraph may charge the requesting utility
for the cost of the search and release of the requested information.
(11) Information provided in response to a request pursuant to
subdivision (a) of Section 530.8 of the Penal Code.
(e) Every violation is a grounds for a civil suit by the aggrieved
residential subscriber against the telephone or telegraph
corporation and its employees responsible for the violation.
(f) For purposes of this section, "access number" means a telex,
teletex, facsimile, computer modem, or any other code which is used
by a residential subscriber of a telephone or telegraph corporation
to direct a communication to another subscriber of the same or
another telephone or telegraph corporation.