Section 2891.1 Of Article 3. Customer Right Of Privacy From California Public Utilities Code >> Division 1. >> Part 2. >> Chapter 10. >> Article 3.
2891.1
. (a) Notwithstanding Section 2891, a telephone corporation
selling or licensing lists of residential subscribers shall not
include the telephone number of any subscriber assigned an unlisted
or unpublished access number. A subscriber may waive all or part of
the protection provided by this subdivision through written notice to
the telephone corporation.
(b) Notwithstanding Section 2891, a provider of mobile telephony
services, or any direct or indirect affiliate or agent of a provider,
providing the name and dialing number of a subscriber for inclusion
in any directory of any form, or selling the contents of any
directory database, or any portion or segment thereof, shall not
include the dialing number of any subscriber without first obtaining
the express consent of that subscriber. The express consent shall
meet all of the following requirements:
(1) It shall be one of the following:
(A) A separate document that is signed and dated by the
subscriber, and that is not attached to any other document.
(B) An affirmative response made on a separate field on an
Internet Web site where there is no default. The provider of mobile
telephony services shall send a confirmation notice to the subscriber'
s electronic mail address, or to a subscriber's postal mail address
if the subscriber does not have an electronic mail account.
(2) It shall be unambiguous, legible, and conspicuously disclose
that, by opting in, the subscriber is consenting to have the
subscriber's dialing number sold or licensed as part of a list of
subscribers and the subscriber's dialing number may be included in a
publicly available directory.
(3) If, under the subscriber's calling plan, the subscriber may be
billed for receiving unsolicited calls or text messaging from a
telemarketer, the provider's form shall include an unambiguous and
legible disclosure statement that, by consenting to have the
subscriber's dialing number sold or licensed as part of a list of
subscribers or included in a publicly available directory, the
subscriber may incur additional charges for receiving unsolicited
calls or text messages.
(c) Nothing in this section prohibits a subscriber of mobile
telephony services from voluntarily entering into an agreement for
the placement of his or her name and mobile telephony dialing number
in any advertising program if the agreement satisfies the express
consent requirements of this section.
(d) A subscriber who provides express prior consent pursuant to
subdivision (b) may revoke that consent at any time. A provider of
mobile telephony services shall comply with the subscriber's request
to opt out within a reasonable period of time, not to exceed 60 days.
(e) A subscriber shall not be charged for making the choice to not
have their name and mobile telephony dialing number be listed in a
publicly available directory assistance database.
(f) This section does not apply to the provision of telephone
numbers to the following parties for the purposes indicated:
(1) To a collection agency, to the extent disclosures made by the
agency are supervised by the commission, exclusively for the
collection of unpaid debts.
(2) (A) To any law enforcement agency, fire protection agency,
public health agency, public environmental health agency, city or
county emergency services planning agency, or private for-profit
agency operating under contract with, and at the direction of, one or
more of these agencies, for the exclusive purpose of responding to a
911 call or communicating an imminent threat to life or property.
(B) Any information or records provided to a private for-profit
agency pursuant to this subdivision shall be held in confidence by
that agency and by any individual employed by or associated with that
agency. This information or these records shall not be open to
examination for any purpose not directly connected with the
administration of the services specified in subdivision (e) of
Section 2872 or this paragraph.
(3) To a lawful process issued under state or federal law.
(4) To a telephone corporation providing service between service
areas for the provision to the subscriber of telephone service
between service areas, or to third parties for the limited purpose of
providing billing services.
(5) To a telephone corporation to effectuate a customer's request
to transfer the customer's assigned telephone number from the
customer's existing provider of telecommunications services to a new
provider of telecommunications services.
(6) To the commission pursuant to its jurisdiction and control
over telephone and telegraph corporations.
(g) Every deliberate violation of this section is grounds for a
civil suit by the aggrieved subscriber against the organization or
corporation and its employees responsible for the violation.
(h) For purposes of this section, "unpublished or unlisted access
number" means a telephone, telex, teletex, facsimile, computer modem,
or any other code number that is assigned to a subscriber by a
telephone or telegraph corporation for the receipt of communications
initiated by other telephone or telegraph customers and that the
subscriber has requested that the telephone or telegraph corporation
keep in confidence.
(i) No telephone corporation, nor any official or employee
thereof, shall be subject to criminal or civil liability for the
release of customer information as authorized by this section.