Customer proprietary network information (CPNI) is the data collected by telecommunications companies about a consumer's telephone service.
Privacy rules primarily apply to individually identifiable CPNI, meaning CPNI data that is linked or linkable to a particular person through other data such as a wireless account number, wireless phone number or email address.
The U.S. Telecommunications Act of 1996 granted the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authority to regulate how CPNI can be used, and to enforce related consumer information privacy provisions.
Law enforcement access to CPNI ordinarily requires proper judicial approval, but some data about telecommunications customers can be shared or sold to "communications" related companies.
For example, the rule revisions adopted in the Order do not limit a carrier's ability to use CPNI to perform billing and collections functions, restrict CPNI use to effect maintenance and repair activity, or impact responses to lawful subpoenas.