No pretexts?

[unixronin]

The FCC has just issued new regulations for protecting telephone subscriber information in the wake of the Congressional act outlawing "pretexting", that polite euphemism meaning "impersonating someone in order to steal their personal data".  Phone company representatives don't seem happy.

One of the biggest concerns phone companies have is that the FCC is making it difficult for them to work with partners and marketing contractors to bring new services to consumers, by mandating that they can only share customer data with these partners once they obtain customer consent.

"We are deeply concerned that the FCC is taking an overly broad approach far beyond protecting the legitimate privacy interests of call detail information to preventing any marketing of new services, bundled offerings and new applications--using joint venture partners or independent contractors--that can save consumers money," Walter McCormick Jr., president and CEO of USTelecom, said in a statement.

So, lemme see here ... what he's saying is that the new FCC anti-pretexting rules make it harder for phone companies to hire telemarketers to annoy me?

You know, it might be just me, but I don't see a downside to this.

Comments

[bfudlmint.livejournal.com]

How much information do they need to give to the "Independent contractors" and "venture partners"?

Rhetorical question. They want to give them our life stories, they need to give them our name and number.

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

Rising rates. When the phone companies no longer get a kickback for selling our information, they will try to make up the lost revenue directly.

Welcome to modern business. You are no longer a customer to be serviced, but a resource to be exploited.