FCC's Pai Moves to Kill Consumer Broadband Privacy Protections New FCC Boss Ajit Pai says he's preparing to eliminate new broadband industry consumer privacy protections, just as giant broadband carriers had requested. The protections were passed last year, and simply require that ISPs clearly disclose what personal data is being collected, and who it is being sold to. In some instances, the rules require users to opt in before more sensitive personal data (like financial) is shared. Broadband providers were quick to complain, insisting the rules confused consumers and somehow hindered their ability to innovate.

Pai signaled the move in a late Friday e-mail intended to help the news get lost ahead of the weekend. "Chairman Pai believes that the best way to protect the online privacy of American consumers is through a comprehensive and uniform regulatory framework," the FCC said. "All actors in the online space should be subject to the same rules, and the federal government shouldn’t favor one set of companies over another. Therefore, he has advocated returning to a technology-neutral privacy framework for the online world and harmonizing the FCC’s privacy rules for broadband providers with the FTC’s standards for others in the digital economy." "Unfortunately, one of the previous administration’s privacy rules that is scheduled to take effect on March 2 is not consistent with the FTC’s privacy standards," says the new FCC. "Therefore, Chairman Pai is seeking to act on a request to stay this rule before it takes effect on March 2." While the industry claim is this will bring greater efficiency to regulation, former FCC boss Tom Wheeler recently stated in an interview that the industry's push to have all broadband privacy overseen by the FTC is actually a ploy to ensure less company oversight, since the FTC is already over-worked and under-funded and covers an ocean of consumer issues. "It’s a fraud," Wheeler recently said. "The FTC doesn’t have rule-making authority. They’ve got enforcement authority and their enforcement authority is whether or not something is unfair or deceptive. And the FTC has to worry about everything from computer chips to bleach labeling. Of course, carriers want [telecom issues] to get lost in that morass. This was the strategy all along ." ISPs have also tried to claim that the rules unfairly saddle broadband providers with regulation, while not applying to companies like Google and Facebook. But the reason for that is consumers can choose to use a different search engine if they don't like Google's policies. Many can't choose from a different broadband provider, and if they can -- often the second ISP engages in the same, bad behavior. ISPs like to ignore that a lack of competition in the space means the companies get regulated differently. Its also worth noting that the FCC only pursued broadband privacy rules after companies like Verizon got caught covertly modifying packets to track users around the internet, and companies like AT&T and Comcast began exploring forcing users to pay more for privacy. Again, the lack of competition dampens the repercussions for this kind of behavior. Pai began his tenure as new FCC boss by breathlessly promising to wage war on the digital divide. He then immediately proceeded to do the exact opposite of what he promised, having Pai began his tenure as new FCC boss by breathlessly promising to wage war on the digital divide. He then immediately proceeded to do the exact opposite of what he promised, having prohibited 9 already-approved ISPs for helping the poor , killed an FCC plan to bring competition (and lower rates) to the cable box, blocked attempts to prevent prison phone monopolies from ripping off inmates , and killed an agency inquiry into zero rating -- in what's believed to be the first steps toward killing net neutrality overall. You can now add hurting broadband consumer privacy to his roster of early accomplishments.







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Most recommended from 59 comments



cypherstream

MVM

join:2004-12-02

Reading, PA 28 recommendations cypherstream MVM Wipe that fake Colgate smile from your mug I wish this guy would wipe that fake Colgate smile from his face while he dismantles all the achievements the FCC did in the past few years. tehkwhiz

join:2012-02-28

Columbus, OH 12 recommendations tehkwhiz Member God, his face... Am I the only one who wants to sucker punch that son of a bitch whenever his photo pops up?



He just *looks* punchable. Never mind the fact he's trying to screw all of us over and work for the corporations. whatsupdoc (banned)

join:2017-01-08

Mickleton, NJ 10 recommendations whatsupdoc (banned) Member FTC should rule here; not the FCC The FTC regulations should rule here and not the FCC. We don't need competing federal agencies regulating the same issues. The FTC has always been the agency to control consumer privacy. The FCC should stick to spectrum regulation and enforcement and leave everything else alone. CyberGuy

join:2006-08-21

Colbert, WA 9 recommendations CyberGuy Member Support your local identity theives I don't want ANY of my personal data stored and available to hackers. I'm breathing, blinking, and occasionally thinking, which would make that a HIPPA violation. rradina

join:2000-08-08

Chesterfield, MO ·Charter

8 recommendations rradina Member Comprehensive Framework... The problem is we're dealing with two different contexts. For Pai's benefit, perhaps I can dumb it down.



There are traffic creators and traffic carriers. This is like organizations who sell/make/wholesale physical products and shippers who transport it from point A to point B.



There are two different contexts and thus, a comprehensive solution might work but it's likely overkill for ISPs. If these decisions were up to me, I wouldn't distinguish carrying data from voice. The same privacy protections we enjoy for voice should be expected for data. Yes, that means no DPI, no injection, no super cookies for ISPs. Don't like it, tough shit. Get out of the ISP business and let someone else with ethics carry the traffic.



With carriers (ISPs) out of the way, we should then move to those that create traffic (i.e. web sites/services). However, this will be an entirely different conversation and it will take considerably longer to determine the right balance between reasonable privacy expectations and how that impacts free web service revenue.

tc1uscg

join:2005-03-09

Guantanamo 7 recommendations tc1uscg Member Talk about fluff talk Sooo, does this mean Comcrap can sell my data and not have to tell me or does the FTC forbid them from selling my data and not telling me? "FTC’s privacy standards,"... Anyone got a link to these "privacy standards"?Sooo, does this mean Comcrap can sell my data and not have to tell me or does the FTC forbid them from selling my data and not telling me?

karpodiem

Hail to The Victors

Premium Member

join:2008-05-20

Troy, MI ·WOW Internet and..

·Comcast XFINITY

2 recommendations karpodiem Premium Member Google shouldn't have killed fiber The mega software companies (Google/Amazon/MSFT/Facebook/Apple) should just bite the bullet and create an ISP they all chip in for. They can spare the market cap.



Threaten their ad rev, and see how fast they react. I don't see any other way.



Say we did get the privacy protection we asked for. So what? We still have a competition problem. Until there is meaningful competition, things are going to get worse before they get better. But eventually there will be an inflection point - my hope is that this inflection point comes with the mega software companies realizing they need to get into physical infrastructure to protect their long term profitability.



Things getting worse for consumers hopefully accelerates that timeline.