Court Temporarily Stops CPUC Order Compelling ISP Data Disclosure

A federal court hinted it may side with ISPs in a case about whether a state commission can compel disclosure of subscriber data to a third party. In a Friday order (in Pacer), the U.S. District Court in San Francisco temporarily banned the California Public Utilities Commission from enforcing a May 3 ruling compelling top ISPs to disclose subscription data to The Utilities Reform Network (TURN) as part of a state investigation of market competition (see 1605130025). The data involves carrier market share and includes Form 477 data that carriers report to the FCC. In their complaint (in Pacer), AT&T, Comcast, CTIA, Verizon and other industry plaintiffs said the data is confidential. Friday, the court granted the telecom companies a preliminary injunction. Judge Vince Chhabria said the ISPs don’t have to provide the data “until cross-motions for summary judgment are adjudicated,” and set a hearing on the cross-motions for Aug. 4 at 10 a.m., with a ruling to follow shortly thereafter. “The plaintiffs have shown a likelihood of success,” Chhabria wrote. “Although the FCC materials cited by the plaintiffs are not crystal clear on whether federal law allows a state commission to disclose this kind of data to a third party pursuant to a protective order, those materials suggest the answer is ‘no.’” The judge sympathized with the CPUC’s desire for the data. “Nobody disputes that the state commissions themselves need this kind of data,” he said. “The issue presented by this preliminary injunction motion is whether the state commissions may require the data to be disclosed to third parties.” The CPUC didn’t comment Tuesday.