47 U.S.C. § 275 — Alarm monitoring services

(a) Delayed entry into alarm monitoring: (1) Prohibition: No Bell operating company or its affiliate can provide alarm monitoring services before the date that is 5 years after February 8, 1996. (2) Existing activities: This does not stop a Bell operating company from continuing to provide alarm monitoring, directly or through an affiliate, if it was already doing so as of November 30, 1995. But between November 30, 1995 and the 5-year mark, that company or affiliate cannot acquire an equity interest in, or gain financial control of, any unaffiliated alarm monitoring business — except that it can still exchange customers with an unaffiliated alarm monitoring company. (b) Nondiscrimination: An incumbent local exchange carrier (as section 251(h) defines it) that already provides alarm monitoring services must (1) give unaffiliated companies, on reasonable request, the same network services it gives its own alarm monitoring operations, on nondiscriminatory terms, and (2) not subsidize its alarm monitoring service, directly or indirectly, from its telephone exchange service operations. (c) Expedited consideration of complaints: The Commission must set up procedures for receiving and reviewing complaints about violations of subsection (b) that cause real financial harm to an alarm monitoring provider. The Commission must make a final decision on any such complaint within 120 days. If the complaint shows the violation likely happened, the Commission must, within 60 days of receiving it, order the carrier and its affiliates to stop the violation while the final decision is pending. (d) Use of data: A local exchange carrier cannot record or use, in any way, the fact of or content of calls received by alarm monitoring providers, to market alarm monitoring services on its own behalf or anyone else's. Rules to enforce this had to be issued within 6 months after February 8, 1996. (e) "Alarm monitoring service" defined: This means a service that uses a device at a residence, business, or other fixed location to (1) receive signals from other devices at that location about a possible threat to life, safety, or property — from burglary, fire, vandalism, injury, or other emergency — and (2) send a signal about that threat, using a local exchange carrier's or its affiliate's transmission facilities, to a remote monitoring center, so someone there can alert the customer, another person, or police, fire, rescue, security, or public safety personnel. It does not include a service using a medical monitoring device attached to a person to automatically watch an ongoing medical condition.