Broadband Privacy Can Prevent Discrimination: The Case of Cable One and FICO Scores

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission has an ongoing proceeding to apply Section 222 (47 USC 222) to broadband. For those unfamiliar with the statute, Section 222 prohibits a provider of a “telecommunications service” from either disclosing information collected from a customer without a customer’s consent, or from using the information for something other than providing the telecom service. While most of us think this generally means advertising, it means a heck of a lot more than that — as illustrated by this tidbit from Cable One.

Briefly, according to Cable One CEO Thomas Might, Cable One used predictive analytics to determine that customers with low FICO credit scores are “hollow value” customers (i.e. customers who often pay late or don’t pay, and who don’t buy additional services regularly). These customers either provide little profit to the company, or actually cost the company money (due to the expense of maintaining customers while their bill is disputed, and any costs associated with cancellation and bill collection). While Might explained they did not “turn people away,” they used FICO scores to determine what quality of customer service to provide. Cable One technicians aren’t going to “spend 15 minutes setting up an iPhone app” for someone with a low FICO score, according to Might — regardless of whether the customer in question actually pays her bills on time.

Worse, the use of FICO credit scores for this purpose disproportionately impacts communities of color, and vulnerable populations such as those struggling after a prolonged period of unemployment. These same populations are the ones least likely to have a home subscription to broadband. But without strong privacy rules in place, even those who can afford a home broadband subscription may not get the customer service they deserve because their provider considers them a “hollow customer” based on their FICO score. This is exactly the kind of discrimination that civil rights organizations have warned about in their 2014 “Civil Rights Principles For The Era of Big Data,” and on which the FCC has sought comments for in its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.