Washington, D.C. – Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler announced today that he is circulating a proposal within the agency to protect consumers’ privacy when they use broadband Internet services. The proposal will be considered by the Commission at its March 31 meeting. In the meantime, the FCC has released a fact sheet highlighting the main provisions of the proposal and the reasons why this protection is needed.
This statement can be attributed to Susan Grant, Director of Consumer Protection and Privacy at Consumer Federation of America:
“The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) supports Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Wheeler’s action today to begin the process of crafting rules to protect broadband users’ personal data. Broadband communications are essential to modern life and consumers should not have to sacrifice their privacy in order to use them. As CFA and other groups noted in a letter to the FCC on March 7, 2016, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are increasingly engaged in invasive tracking practices, and in the absence of a comprehensive legal privacy framework in the U.S. there are few constraints on these types of business activities.
The FCC has the legal obligation to protect the privacy and security of consumers’ communications, including the personal data that can be gleaned by their ISPs in their roles as gatekeepers to Internet access, and has taken an important step today by confirming its intention to do so. CFA believes that where the default lies for consumer decision-making is crucial and welcomes Chairman Wheeler’s proposal that broadband users should be asked to opt-in for most uses of their data unrelated to actually providing the Internet service that they requested, though we would like the opt-in requirement to be extended further. We look forward to providing comments on how best to achieve strong privacy and security protection for broadband users when the agency issues the proposed rules.”
CFA is an association of more than 250 nonprofit consumer groups that was founded in 1968 to advance the consumer interest through research, advocacy and education.