July 17 Deadline to File Objections to Keep Special Access Data Confidential from Authorized Third Parties

JSI to File Objection on Behalf of Clients

Many telecom companies submitted confidential or highly confidential information and data pursuant to the FCC’s Protective Order in response to the Special Access Data Collection earlier this year. Nine parties now seek access to that confidential data and information. On Friday, the FCC released a Public Notice listing those parties and provided information on how those companies that filed the confidential data and information can object to its disclosure. Companies that wish to object have until this Friday, July 17, 2015 to file through ECFS or by hand delivery to the FCC in WC Docket No. 05-25, and serve a copy on counsel representing, retaining, or employing the requesting party, or on the requesting parties themselves.

After the objection has been filed, the FCC must rule in favor of the person seeking access before the requesting party can see the confidential or highly confidential information. Clients should be aware, however, that it is likely that the FCC will deny the objections given the provisions in the Protective Order prohibiting requesting parties from disclosing any of the confidential or highly confidential data.

For example, the requesting parties have executed and filed Acknowledgements of Confidentiality, binding them to the terms and conditions of the FCC’s Data Protective Order. They’ll be limited in how they access the FCC’s Secure Data Enclave (SDE), as well as what information they may extract from it. Reviewing parties may not download, print or otherwise remove any highly confidential data from the SDE, but may store its analyses in a virtual locker located in the SDE, which can then be downloaded upon request to the third-party SDE administrator. The SDE administrator will ensure that parties only receive their analysis and not any underlying raw data. No competitive decision makers can access the SDE. Only those who are outside counsel or outside consultants and who signed the Acknowledgement will be permitted to access the SDE at a physical location in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area or remotely via a virtual private network.

To ensure that the FCC strictly adheres to the criteria set forth in the Protective Order, JSI will file an objection on behalf of all of the clients that it assisted with the Special Access filing, requesting that any analysis released will not allow third parties to associate the data with a specific carrier. If you would like to provide any input for this filing, would like for JSI to assist your company in filing an objection, or have questions about the confidential treatment of the information and data, please contact Valerie Wimer in JSI’s Maryland office at 301-459-7590 or Lans Chase in our Georgia office at 770-569-2105.

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