We speculated last week what the telco contribution to the concept of the “social graph” would be, noting that “call detail records are information-rich and enable telcos to track (and bill) for small actions at an individual level.” We failed to note that the FCC has stringent guidelines about how such data can be shared — basically, it can’t, without customer permission.
But permission can be a sticky concept.
Recently, Verizon Wireless began sending a letter to subscribers offering them the option to opt-out of having their customer proprietary network information (CPNI) shared with third parties. Not surprisingly, it raised some red flags. A copy of the notice, posted now by Verizon, can be found here (PDF).
Verizon posted its response, saying the CPNI sharing was only between Verizon subsidiaries for the purpose of service delivery — and would not be meted out to third parties or used for advertising purposes.
We want to look into this further before we comment fully. But telcos must walk a careful line. Facebook and Google can talk about “sharing” social graph data and introducing “social ads.” They get touted as innovators, not slammed for violating customer privacy. It’s a boundary clearly being defined on the fly.
These tricky questions get even stickier for mobile companies. They have the ability to tie in location data. Not only do they know what you are doing and who you’re doing it with – they know where you are when you’re doing it.
There are many ways that this combination could enhance a user’s experience, but then again…
That’s why you see such a reluctance for mobile carriers to open their LBS platforms to 3rd party vendors. Something goes wrong, and you know who will get the screaming complaints (followed by the lawsuits). Hint: the one with the deepest pockets.
CPNI training is an annual requirement at this incumbent telco. We are very explicitly told to not share CPNI. An addition in the last decade warns about “social engineering.” Of course corporate may look for the “fine line” to tread but in the trenches we are thoroughly warned NOT to share information. Even for the request that we make during a service or maintenance call to be allowed to examine the customer’s service record the permisions end with the call.