FCC chief: Controversial new privacy rules will improve transparency online
The proposed rules, released on Thursday, would require companies to provide additional disclosures about the data they collect from their customers. While advocates hail them as increasing transparency, companies say they are overly burdensome.
This June 19, 2015, file photo, shows the Federal Communications Commission building in Washington. YThe communications regulator is proposing new privacy rules that would make Internet providers ask customers permission before tracking and sharing their data in some instances. But the rules are likely to be controversial, with the companies saying they go too far.
Andrew Harnik/AP/File
Internet providers such as Comcast and Verizon could face stiffer regulations on how they collect and share information about their customers under proposed Thursday by the Federal Communications Commission.
The proposal by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler calls for broadband providers to more clearly disclose how they collect information about their customer鈥檚 Internet browsing and other online activities.聽
Coming nearly a year after the FCC voted 3-2 in favor of net neutrality rules that gave it much greater oversight over broadband providers, the online privacy proposal, if approved, would likely represent a significant milestone.
鈥淐onsumers should have effective control over how their personal information is used and shared by their broadband service providers,鈥� a factsheet about the proposal says. 鈥淭elephone networks have had clear, enforceable privacy rules for decades, but broadband networks currently do not.鈥�
Particularly, Mr. Wheeler鈥檚 proposal includes a series of opt-in and opt-out provisions for different uses of customer data by broadband providers. For example, it would prohibit
It also aims to improve the security of that information, including the requirement that Internet providers disclose a breach of their data to customers within 10 days.
The five-member panel is set to vote on the rules on March 31, but the long-anticipated proposal has already attracted controversy.
Privacy advocates hail the effort as a necessary dose of sunshine on the vast amounts of information Internet providers collect about what their customers do online, while cable companies say it goes too far.
鈥淕iven the central role the Internet plays in our daily lives and the amount and sensitivity of the data we share online, consumers need to be put in the driver鈥檚 seat,鈥� says Katharina Kopp, director of privacy and data at the Center for Democracy and Technology, in a statement. 鈥淭he FCC proposed actions today are an important first step. It鈥檚 good to see the FCC seize this rare and important opportunity to protect the privacy of broadband consumers."
But the Internet providers say that it would unfairly penalize them when websites such as Google also use customer data to generate so-called targeted advertising. The companies instead support the approach of the Federal Trade Commission, which now regulates online privacy by banning practices that it finds to be 鈥渦nfair or deceptive.鈥�
鈥淕iven the realities of this complex market, there is no basis for treating [Internet service provider] data as somehow 鈥榩roprietary鈥� or subjecting ISPs to unique privacy requirements,鈥� wrote Bob Quinn, AT&T鈥檚 senior vice president for regulatory affairs in before the proposal was announced. 鈥淐onsumers expect and deserve consistent privacy protections for their online data, regardless of which company is collecting it and the technology used to collect it."
The proposal is also likely to be controversial within the FCC itself. The agency鈥檚 two Republican commissioners voted against the net neutrality rules last February.
鈥淭he FCC is doubling down on its misguided and broken Net Neutrality decision by imposing troubling and conflicting 鈥榩rivacy鈥� rules on Internet companies,鈥� FCC Commissioner Michael O鈥橰ielly, who voted against the net neutrality rules last year, said .
He described the agency鈥檚 approach to net neutrality as 鈥渞eckless,鈥� saying the FCC lacked 鈥渆xpertise, personnel or understanding鈥� necessary to regulate online privacy.
But privacy advocates say the tougher regulations are a necessary step as some Internet providers have also moved into the business of online advertising.
鈥淸Broadband] providers pose a unique and heightened risk to privacy for their subscribers, because of the unusually comprehensive and detailed data to which they have access in the course of offering broadband service,鈥� wrote Harold Feld, senior vice president at Public Knowledge, released last month.
The proposed rules take aim at that issue. For example, customers of Verizon鈥檚 Fios Internet service could receive information about the company鈥檚 mobile data plan because it is an affiliated service.
But the company 鈥� which was recently found to be tracking customers using so-called 鈥渟uper cookies鈥� that couldn鈥檛 be deleted 鈥� wouldn鈥檛 be able to share that information with AOL, a media site it purchased last year, .
Mr. Wheeler said his ultimate goal was to improve transparency for consumers about what information was being collecting by Internet providers.
鈥淲hen these companies were operating as phone companies, the information generated by a phone call couldn鈥檛 be released unless the consumer said so,鈥� he said in before the proposal was unveiled. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to ask yourself the question: why is the information generated by an Internet search different?鈥�