CalSPEED Web-based Measurement Tool

Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, and Notice on Data Collection, Public Data Sharing, and Location Data Map Publication

SCOPE

Note: This Privacy Policy applies to the CalSPEED web-based measurement tool at https://calspeed.org. CalSPEED measures the reliability, quality, and availability of communications services.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to third parties such as your web browser, Internet Service Provider (ISP), or measurement tool engine, which collect, use, retain, and disclose information, including from https://calspeed.org, which are subject to the privacy policies of those third parties.

BACKGROUND

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has tools, including the CalSPEED web-based measurement tool, to measure, collect, analyze, map, and share precise location and communications network quality and performance data publicly. Some of these tools are a part of the CalSPEED program's effort to assess communications services and networks throughout California. Data collection requirements may evolve to accommodate program needs, new technologies, or network developments.

The public can access the CalSPEED web-based measurement tool at https://calspeed.org, which uses third-party services, including the measurement engine.

PRIVACY POLICIES

The CPUC is committed to promoting and protecting the privacy rights of individuals, as enumerated in Article 1 of the Constitution of the State of California, the Information Practices Act of 1977, and other state and federal laws.

It is the policy of the CPUC to limit the collection and safeguard the privacy of personal information collected or kept by the CPUC. The CPUC uses information security safeguards and takes reasonable precautions to protect the personal information of individuals collected or kept by the CPUC against loss, unauthorized access, use, modification, or disclosure. The CPUC has security measures in place to protect against loss, unauthorized access, use, modification, or disclosure of the information under its control. Information that is physically located within the CPUC is protected by various security measures. For the CPUC's websites, the CPUC uses encryption software to protect the security of individuals' personal information during transmission of such information throughout the CPUC's websites. Personal information is stored in secured locations.

The use and development of the CalSPEED web-based measurement tool and collection of data are authorized under the California Public Utilities Code (Pub. Util. Code) Section 281(n)(3)(A)(ii) and CPUC Decision 16-12-025.

The information management practices used in conjunction with the CalSPEED web-based measurement tool conform to the requirements of the Information Practices Act (Civ. Code Sections 1798 et seq.), the Public Records Act (Govt. Code Sections 6250 et seq.), and Government Code Sections 11015.5 and 11019.9.

CPUC staff are trained in procedures for the management and release of personal information, and access to personal information is limited to those staff whose work requires it. Confidential information is destroyed according to the CPUC's records retention schedules. The CPUC conducts periodic audits to ensure that proper information management policies and procedures are being followed.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT AND SHARE WITH THE PUBLIC

The information the CalSPEED collects is used to measure, analyze, map, and publicly report the reliability, quality, and availability of communications services and networks. As a part of this collection, the CPUC and/or the third-party services store and share the following information with the public:

User Selected / Entered Information

Device type
Local Network type
Provider – Internet Service Provider (ISP) type
Notes

Automatically Detected / User Updated Information

Provider - Internet Service Provider (ISP)
VPN (Virtual Private Network) status
Address (physical location)

Granular location information includes your physical home address and location coordinates as well as other physical addresses and location coordinates, if you enable location access and/or enter your physical addresses or locations:

Granular location information will be collected, mapped, and shared publicly using your physical home address and latitude and longitude coordinates. This location information may be included in, but not limited to, online services, maps, and databases.
When using the CalSPEED web-based measurement tool, you may be prompted to select whether the tool may access your location information.
If you enable the location access feature, the CalSPEED program can publicly share your physical location using your physical address and/or latitude and longitude coordinates.
You do not have to share access to your location for you to use the CalSPEED web-based measurement tool. However, without this information, you will not be able to view and share a map of your historical results. Your results will not be included in published materials. Also, the measurement results will be of limited use to the CPUC in learning more about the availability, quality, and reliability of communications services and networks.

Dates and Times

Dates and times are collected automatically to timestamp each unique result for analysis and display publicly.

Network and other information automatically detected: descriptions with examples are found in the table below:

Internet Protocol (IP) Address, Country, Region, City, Latitude and Longitude, Server Name and Sponsor, Browser Name and Version, User Agent, Internet Service Provider (ISP) Names, Operating System, Test ID, Result ID, Server Location, and Ookla Test ID.

Table of information collected by CPUC and/or third-parties and shared with the public. (* denotes fields available in Ookla's Speedtest Custom):

Field Name	Description	Example
id	Numerical value assigned to uniquely identify each test in the database.	78
user_id	Numerical value uniquely associated with each user account.	15
date	The calendar date on which the test took place, recorded in California local time.	10/29/2024
time	The specific time at which the test took place on the recorded date, in California local time.	18:31:08
address	Test location, including street, city, state, and ZIP code, as determined by the application or entered manually by the user. When a VPN is enabled, the location may reflect a virtual address.	100 Campus Ctr, Seaside, CA 93955
upload	Upload speed in Kilobits per second (Kbps).	943,931
download	Download speed in Kilobits per second (Kbps).	939,947
ping	Delay or latency measurement in milliseconds (ms).	5
jitter	Delay or latency variation in milliseconds (ms).	2
device_type	The device on which the test is run, as identified by the application or selected by the user.	Mac Laptop/Desktop
local_network_type	The type of network used for the test, as selected by the user.	WiFi
provider_type	The provider type used for the test, as selected by the user.	WiFi
vpn	Status of the user's connection to a Virtual Private Network (VPN), as determined by the application.	VPN Off
isp	The Internet Service Provider, as determined by the application or entered by the user.	Comcast Cable
notes	Optional user-entered notes for a test.	Sample test in room 301
ooklaTestID	Unique test value generated by Ookla's Speedtest Custom.	4ba2e90-9e1f-11ef-b57d-11efc1b863e9
created_at	Date and time when the test record was created in the database, in California local time.	11/5/24 21:26
updated_at	Same as the "created_at" field. Currently, users cannot modify any values associated with an existing test result.	11/5/24 21:26
username	The username created by the user during registration.	alice01
resultDate*	The date and time when the test was conducted, stored in ISO 8601 format.	2024-07-08T14:55:38.000Z
ipAddress*	The IP address of the device that conducted the test.	101.11.101.0
country*	Country where the test was conducted.	United States
region*	State or region where the test was conducted.	California
city*	City where the test was conducted.	San Francisco
latitude*	Latitude coordinate of the test location.	37.775
longitude*	Longitude coordinate of the test location.	-122.419
serverName*	CalSPEED speedtest custom server name.	San Francisco, CA
serverSponsor*	CalSPEED speedtest custom server sponsor.	CalSPEED Ookla
browserName*	Name of the browser used to conduct the test.	Chrome
browserVersion*	Version of the browser used.	126.0.0.0
userAgent*	Detailed information about the browser and device used for the test.	Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/126.0.0.0 Safari/537.36
ispName*	The brand name of the Internet Service Provider used for the test.	XFINITY
ispNameRaw*	The corporate or official name of the Internet Service Provider used for the test.	Comcast Cable
OS*	The operating system of the device used for the test.	Windows 10.0
download (Kbps)*	Download speed measured in kilobits per second (Kbps). This column displays the same value as the "download" column above.	939,947
upload (Kbps)*	Upload speed in Kilobits per second (Kbps). This column displays the same value as the "upload" column above.	943,931
latency (ms)*	Delay or latency measurement in milliseconds (ms). This column displays the same value as the "ping" column above.	5
jitter (ms)*	Delay or latency variation in milliseconds (ms). This column displays the same value as the "jitter" column above.	2

We may share network quality, performance, and other data collected by CalSPEED publicly and subject to legitimate, written requests by law enforcement, other state agencies, or the federal government where required by law or regulation.

This privacy policy is effective January 2025. Any questions and concerns regarding this policy and maintenance of the associated records should be directed to privacy@cpuc.ca.gov or 415-696-7400.

Questions about the CalSPEED program should be directed to calspeed@cpuc.ca.gov.

CPUC Privacy Policy at https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/about-cpuc/privacy-policy.

CPUC website conditions of use at https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/about-cpuc/conditions-of-use.