AT&T will pay $550,000 to settle an FCC inquiry into its mishandl...

2 issues: (1) April, 2005 “self-reported” problems the former SBC had with opt-out mechanisms in its Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) process. No customer information was sold, and the irregularities involved internal marketing, SBC said. (2) A $100,000 fine against the former AT&T the FCC proposed in Jan. for not providing documents certifying its compliance with CPNI rules on handling customer data. As part of an FCC review related to concerns about data brokers, AT&T provided documents on SBC’s activities but not the former AT&T’s. Under the consent decree, the now-merged company will name personnel to oversee the CPNI opt-out process and approve “in writing both the form and content of CPNI opt-out notices prior to distribution to customers.” It will create a training program and monitor customer complaints to see if CPNI opt-out rules were violated. AT&T “has commendably self-reported some of its failures in its compliance mechanisms and has agreed to adopt a compliance plan so that consumers are appropriately notified about the Commission’s privacy rules,” FCC Comr. Adelstein said. Adelstein also urged the Commission to “move ahead with our pending rulemaking on our consumer privacy rules for telephone companies.” That proceeding, adopted at the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s urging, gives the FCC “an important opportunity to find ways to tighten our rules and provide greater security for these sensitive consumer records,” he said. An AT&T spokesman said SBC’s “internal procedures” showed that opt-out notices weren’t sent to some new customers. He said the company immediately “restricted the customers’ accounts from being added to our… internal marketing lists [and] removed the affected customers from all previously generated internal marketing lists.” The customers were sent opt-out notices and the problem was reported to the FCC a week after it was discovered. As for the AT&T problem, the company said it had CPNI compliance procedures in place but couldn’t find the certificate.