CalSPEED Multitest Web-based Measurement Tools
Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, and Notice on Data Collection, Public Data Sharing, and Location Data Map Publication
SCOPE
This Privacy Policy applies to the CalSPEED Multitest web-based measurement tool, which runs two sequential speed measurements: the Measurement Swiss Army Knife (MSAK) measurement tool at https://multitest.calspeed.org and the CalSPEED measurement tool (powered by Ookla’s Speedtest Custom) at https://calspeed.cpuc.ca.gov. Together, these tools measure 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, and which are subject to the privacy policies of those third parties.
BACKGROUND
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has tools, including the MSAK and CalSPEED web-based measurement tools, 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 MSAK web-based measurement tool at https://multitest.calspeed.org and the CalSPEED web-based measurement tool at https://calspeed.cpuc.ca.gov. Both tools use third-party services, including their respective measurement engines.
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 MSAK and CalSPEED web-based measurement tools 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 MSAK and CalSPEED web-based measurement tools 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 collected by the MSAK and CalSPEED tools 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 Multitest 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 Multitest 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 tables 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.
MSAK - Table of information collected by CPUC and/or third-parties and shared with the public:
| Field Name | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| id | Numerical value assigned to uniquely identify each measurement in the database. | 78 |
| user_id | Numerical value uniquely associated with each user account. | 15 |
| date | The calendar date on which the measurement took place, recorded in California local time. | 10/29/2024 |
| time | The specific time at which the measurement took place on the recorded date, in California local time. | 18:31:08 |
| address | Measurement 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 measurement 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 measurement, as selected by the user. | WiFi |
| provider_type | The provider type used for the measurement, 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 measurement. | Sample measurement in room 301 |
| created_at | Date and time when the measurement 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 measurement result. | 11/5/24 21:26 |
| username | The username created by the user during registration. | alice01 |
| resultDate | The date and time when the measurement was conducted, stored in ISO 8601 format. | 2024-07-08T14:55:38.000Z |
| ipAddress | The IP address of the device that conducted the measurement. | 101.11.101.0 |
| country | Country where the measurement was conducted. | United States |
| region | State or region where the measurement was conducted. | California |
| city | City where the measurement was conducted. | San Francisco |
| latitude | Latitude coordinate of the measurement location. | 37.775 |
| longitude | Longitude coordinate of the measurement location. | -122.419 |
| serverName | MSAK speedtest server name. | San Francisco, CA |
| serverSponsor | MSAK speedtest server sponsor. | MSAK Ookla |
| browserName | Name of the browser used to conduct the measurement. | Chrome |
| browserVersion | Version of the browser used. | 126.0.0.0 |
| userAgent | Detailed information about the browser and device used for the measurement. | 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 measurement. | XFINITY |
| ispNameRaw | The corporate or official name of the Internet Service Provider used for the measurement. | Comcast Cable |
| OS | The operating system of the device used for the measurement. | 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 |
Ookla - 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 measurement in the database. | 78 |
| user_id | Numerical value uniquely associated with each user account. | 15 |
| date | The calendar date on which the measurement took place, recorded in California local time. | 10/29/2024 |
| time | The specific time at which the measurement took place on the recorded date, in California local time. | 18:31:08 |
| address | Measurement 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 measurement 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 measurement, as selected by the user. | WiFi |
| provider_type | The provider type used for the measurement, 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 measurement. | Sample measurement in room 301 |
| ooklaTestID | Unique measurement value generated by Ookla’s Speedtest Custom. | 4ba2e90-9e1f-11ef-b57d-11efc1b863e9 |
| created_at | Date and time when the measurement 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 measurement result. | 11/5/24 21:26 |
| username | The username created by the user during registration. | alice01 |
| resultDate* | The date and time when the measurement was conducted, stored in ISO 8601 format. | 2024-07-08T14:55:38.000Z |
| ipAddress* | The IP address of the device that conducted the measurement. | 101.11.101.0 |
| country* | Country where the measurement was conducted. | United States |
| region* | State or region where the measurement was conducted. | California |
| city* | City where the measurement was conducted. | San Francisco |
| latitude* | Latitude coordinate of the measurement location. | 37.775 |
| longitude* | Longitude coordinate of the measurement 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 measurement. | Chrome |
| browserVersion* | Version of the browser used. | 126.0.0.0 |
| userAgent* | Detailed information about the browser and device used for the measurement. | 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 measurement. | XFINITY |
| ispNameRaw* | The corporate or official name of the Internet Service Provider used for the measurement. | Comcast Cable |
| OS* | The operating system of the device used for the measurement. | 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 MSAK and 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.
Last reviewed: October 2026