Subdivision 1. Notice. No provider of wireless telecommunications service, or any direct or indirect affiliate or agent of a provider, may include the wireless telephone number information of a customer in a wireless telephone directory assistance service database or publish, sell, or otherwise disseminate the contents of a wireless telephone directory assistance service database unless the provider provides a conspicuous notice to the subscriber informing the subscriber that the subscriber will not be listed in a wireless directory assistance service database without the subscriber's prior express authorization.

Subd. 2. Authorization. (a) A provider, or any direct or indirect affiliate or agent of a provider, may not disclose, provide, or sell a customer's wireless telephone number information, or any part thereof, for inclusion in a wireless telephone directory of any form, and may not sell a wireless telephone directory containing a customer's wireless telephone number information without first receiving prior express authorization from the customer. The customer's authorization must meet the following requirements:

(1) consent shall be affirmatively obtained separately from the execution of the service contract via verifiable means; and

(2) consent shall be unambiguous and conspicuously disclose that the subscriber is consenting to have the customer's dialing number sold or licensed as part of a publicly available directory assistance database.

(b) A record of the authorization shall be maintained for the duration of the service contract or any extension of the contract.

(c) A subscriber who provides express consent pursuant to paragraph (a) may revoke that consent via verifiable means at any time. A provider must comply with the customer's request to be removed from the directory and remove such listing from directory assistance within 60 days.

Subd. 3. No fee to retain privacy. A customer shall not be charged for opting not to be listed in a wireless telephone directory.

Subd. 4. Remedies. Every knowing violation of this section is punishable by a fine of up to $500 for each violation with a maximum aggregated amount of $10,000 for a provider, of which $100 per violation shall be paid to each victim of the violation. The attorney general may bring actions to enforce compliance with this section. For the first violation by any company or organization of this section, the attorney general shall notify the company with a letter of warning that the section has been violated. No telephone corporation, nor any official or employee of a telephone corporation, shall be subject to criminal or civil liability for the release of customer information as authorized by this section.

History: 2005 c 163 s 84