Court Rules Against Verizon On Marketing Practices

The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit has upheld the Federal Communications Commission's order to Verizon to stop using information gained as a result of the switch of a phone provider to cable to try to retain that customer with added incentives. Cable operators, and phone companies, must notify each other about the migration of a phone customer from one to the other for purposes of "porting" the old number. That notice of the impending loss of a customer could also be a last ditch opportunity to try to keep that customer. Comcast, Time Warner and Brighthouse had complained to the FCC that Verizon's attempts to do just that violated Telecommunications Act restrictions on carrier's use of proprietary information for marketing purposes. The FCC agreed, eventually, and told Verizon to stop doing it.