Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 515-12-1-.37 - Family Violence Shelter Confidentiality Protection

Current through Rules and Regulations filed through April 4, 2022

(1) Each person, corporation, or other entity that provides telephone service in this state and each person, corporation, or other entity that publishes, disseminates, or otherwise provides telephone directory information or listings of telephone subscribers in this state shall file with the Commission for approval a plan setting forth in detail how such person, corporation, or other entity will protect the confidentiality of the address or location of family violence shelters, as defined in Code Section 19-13-20, in this state.

(a) Such plan shall be an affidavit that attests that the telephone company will comply with the requirements set forth in paragraph (2) of this rule.

(b) Such affidavit shall be submitted to the Commission upon certification and on January 31 of each odd-numbered year thereafter.

(c) Provided the affidavit attests that the telephone company will comply with paragraph (2) of this rule, it shall be deemed approved upon filing.

(2) The affidavit shall attest that the telephone company will comply, at minimum, with the following requirements:

(a) The entity shall make one or more employees responsible for confirming that the entity's records mark and protect every certified family violence shelter in the state.

(b) Sales associates for the entity shall be trained to respond to requests by a customer or potential customer for a new or additional service by asking questions intended to elicit the nature of the customer's business, including its identity as a family violence shelter. If a customer is identified as a family violence shelter, the customer shall be assigned to a service representative who has been specially trained and designated for interactions with family violence shelters.

(c) Prior to including a new listing in a directory, the entity shall confirm that the listing is not a family violence shelter.

(d) With regard to directory assistance/operator services:

1. Service orders for family violence shelter customers shall contain a code indicating that the address of the customer is not to be listed in the directory and should not be included in the directory assistance database.

2. When no address is provided in the database, the operator shall provide only the phone number. For those instances in which the customer requests the listing at a specific phone number, operators shall be instructed to advise the customer that they have the listing name and number but no address details are available.

(e) Telephone service providers shall have the following procedures in place to protect against attempts to locate the physical address of a family violence shelter:

1. access to retail accounts identified as family violence shelters will be restricted to designated telephone service provider employees;

2. personnel will be instructed not to provide customer proprietary network information to persons with whom they interact, unless such person has been authenticated and there is a valid business reason for providing the requested information; and

3. the telephone service provider shall provide or arrange for the training of personnel tasked with implementing this rule, and

4. all family violence shelter accounts shall be excluded from outbound sales efforts.

(f) If such entity discovers that information of a family violence shelter has been disclosed, then the entity shall take the following steps:

1. notify the Georgia Commission on Family Violence by telephone within 24 hours of the discovery;

2. notify the family violence shelter by telephone as soon as possible but no later than 24 hours of the discovery; and

3. provide written notice to the Georgia Public Service Commission no later than seven calendar days within seven days of the discovery. Such written notice will confirm that paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subsection were complied with.

Notes

Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 515-12-1-.37

O.C.G.A. §§ 46-2-30, 46-5-7.

Original Rule entitled "Family Violence Shelter Confidentiality Protection" adopted. F. Feb. 8, 2022; eff. Feb. 28, 2022.