People of State of California v. Federal Communications Commission

California’s Public Utilities Commission (“CPUC”) has filed two petitions seeking review of the Federal Communications Commission’s (“FCC”) decision denying reconsideration of the FCC’s rule that subscribers who fail to choose the method to prevent disclosure of their nonpublished 1 telephone numbers, when Caller ID service becomes effective, must be served with a system that requires the customer to dial *67 each time a call is made (“per call blocking”) to protect his or her privacy. CPUC argues that this rule violates federal constitutional rights, and arbitrarily and capriciously preempts the CPUC rule that emergency service organizations and subscribers with nonpublished numbers, who fail to communicate their choice (“default”) 2 between per call blocking and a system that blocks disclosure on all calls unless the calling party dials *82 (“per line blocking”), be served with a system that blocks disclosure on all calls.

AT & T Corporation (“AT & T”) and Competitive Telecommunications Association (“CompTel”) have filed separate petitions in which they seek review of the denial of their petitions for reconsideration of the FCG’s decision requiring telephone carriers using…