While Congress frequently likes to talk about passing laws requiring that such systems be purely "opt in" for consumers, the collective lobbying muscle of both the telecom and marketing/advertising industries continually ensures this doesn't happen. In order to prevent such laws from passing, carriers like AT&T and Verizon are trying to push for a self-regulatory system whereby "public shame" would keep them honest about privacy violations.

self-regulatory system whereby "public shame" subscriber loss and lower shareholder returns would keep them honest about privacy violations.