Complete Story
10/06/2016
Rep. Pallone Pushes for Broadband Privacy Vote
The top Democrat on the House Energy & Commerce Committee, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) is pushing the FCC to proceed to a vote on strong new broadband privacy rules, saying the FTC model (of enforcing self-regulation) provided limited protections.
At almost the same time, the former top democrat on the House Energy & Commerce Committee Henry Waxman said the FTC model was the way to go, had been working, and that the FCC proposal, at least as originally constituted, would harm consumers.
"Weakening consumer protection is not the way to alleviate confusion," Pallone wrote. "Limited privacy protections are what we have now, and nearly half of internet users surveyed say the current privacy regime leaves them confused, discouraged, and impatient."
Both Pallone and Waxman are in agreement that the FCC and FTC need to better harmonize their privacy regulation. In a sort of Jack Sprat arrangement, the FCC oversees consumer online privacy when it comes to ISPs handling user info, while the FTC oversees the handling of website user info by edge providers like Google and Facebook. That is because the FTC is prohibited from regulating common carriers and the FCC redefined ISPs as common carriers in the Open Internet order.
