VoIP Compliance: Federal and Industry Regulations Guide

Privacy and protection of personal data are not just a customer wish. Federal laws require your compliance, and the phone system you choose plays a bigger role in that than most businesses realize.

Let's say your bank or your doctor wants to send you information. Maybe it is a tax form, or the results of a blood test. Why can't they just email it to you like everybody else does? Certain industries must comply with strict privacy laws. Federal rules limit how your bank or doctor can transmit personal information to you, even if you request it. They have to use secure channels.

The same principles apply to VoIP communications. It is digital data, and that digital data could be hacked and stolen. Our government has enacted regulations that require you to comply with certain privacy acts. Here is a rundown of the major compliance regulations and the industries to which they apply. Do they impact you? More importantly, is your VoIP provider making sure both of you stay compliant?

CPNI: Customer Proprietary Network Information

CPNI is an acronym for Customer Proprietary Network Information. This is one of the broadest regulations that impacts VoIP providers. You probably already know that your provider collects and tracks information about who you call. Did you know that unless you opt out, your VoIP provider could pass along some of this information to third parties for marketing purposes?

A 1996 FCC telecommunications act was updated in 2007 to specifically include VoIP services. Before that, this was mainly something that only the wireless provider networks had to comply with. If you don't have a clear answer, contact your VoIP provider and find out which side of the CPNI fence you are on. This is one of the first questions worth raising when you are evaluating potential VoIP providers.

COPPA: Children's Online Privacy Protection Act

Here we go with another acronym. This federal act should not be taken lightly. It is the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, and it prohibits deceptive marketing to children. It also prohibits the collection of their personal information.

With VoIP, your phone system runs over an internet connection. It is prohibited from collecting information from anyone known to be under the age of 13, unless you are a nonprofit organization. You do not want to be on the wrong side of anything that even appears to exploit children. Familiarize yourself with the policies your VoIP provider has in place to comply with COPPA. And they do comply with this act, right?

HIPAA: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

This act does for health information what COPPA does for children. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was put in place to govern protected health information. While it has a lot of moving parts, general restrictions apply to any health information stored digitally. The act declares that it can only be shared with your permission.

You do not have to be a doctor or a patient to be impacted by this federal act. Any healthcare provider or insurance company must comply. What are the consequences of running afoul of the act? Say your VoIP provider does not follow both the electronic and physical safeguards required, and your customers' personal medical information ends up accessible on search engines. Prepare to pay a hefty fine. Many organizations have paid heavily after personal data for thousands of patients was inadvertently made public. If you operate in a regulated field, our overview of AI calling for healthcare walks through how modern call handling fits alongside these obligations.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act

This one is more commonly known as the National Do Not Call Registry, and you can get into a lot of trouble for bothering someone who is on this list. Companies were originally asked to police themselves when it came to automatic dialers and robo-calling.

When that did not work, the Federal Trade Commission enacted the Do-Not-Call Implementation Act of 2003. Here is how it works and why you need to make sure your VoIP provider maintains compliance. You have a time window of just 3 months to respond to someone who calls looking for information. You have only 18 months to continue to act upon that relationship.

But if the customer asks you to stop calling, you have to comply immediately. Otherwise, the Federal Trade Commission can fine you significant amounts for each instance.

The good news is that there are reasonable exemptions. As a business, you can make calls to other businesses, including cold calls. You can also make solicitations for charitable donations, and calls to ask you to vote for a political candidate are exempt as well. Go figure.

Are you comfortable with your VoIP provider's Do Not Call policies? Make sure to take it one step further, as certain industries have their own registries. Ask how your VoIP provider can help you with this if you must comply.

The Personal Data Privacy and Security Act

This is one of the newer pieces of legislation, and we have it courtesy of the steady increase in identity theft. The 2009 legislation requires specific personal privacy security policies for anyone who maintains sensitive personal information for many thousands of customers.

It is likely that your VoIP provider falls into this category. The act requires security activities, but it also holds you accountable if it is discovered that you have covered up a security breach that releases what the act calls sensitive personally identifiable information.

You can face serious penalties, including prison time, if you are found guilty of participating in the release of personal information such as names, social security numbers, home addresses, biometric data, dates of birth, and financial account numbers. The act requires you to notify people if a security breach happens, but it also goes further. You also have to help people fix their credit if it is damaged.

There is an escalation clause, too. You must notify the Secret Service if you have spilled the personal information beans on a very large number of people, or if those people work for the federal government, national security, or law enforcement.

Two Levels of Compliance Risk

There are two levels of culpability here. These acts can directly impact you and your company. Or, they can impact you because you are using VoIP to interact with customers, and it places personal information they share with you in jeopardy. You have heard it before: ignorance of the law is no excuse. Be wise. Make sure that your VoIP provider complies with these privacy acts, and that they are actively participating in helping you comply with them, too. Strong provider safeguards matter just as much as the features you see day to day, so it is worth reviewing VoIP security measures before you sign anything.

How CallSprout Helps You Stay Compliant

If your VoIP provider does not measure up to federal compliance standards, it is time to move on to one that does. CallSprout runs on a cloud business phone system with a 99.999% uptime network, and our AI Voice Agent answers, transcribes, and routes calls while connecting to the tools you already use. That means you can keep accurate records and secure handling of customer conversations without adding manual work. See the full platform to learn what we can do for your business, and if you are just considering the move to VoIP, check our pricing to see how much you could save. Most businesses find VoIP often costs around 30% less than legacy service.