FCC Wades into Broadband CPNI Issue

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The FCC will be delving into a potentially thorny issue Tuesday (April 28) when it holds a workshop on broadband consumer privacy in the wake of its decision to classify Internet access as a telecom service subject to common carrier regs, including privacy protections.

Under Sec. 222 of Title II, which the FCC applied in its Title II order, telecoms have to protect customer confidentiality and can't use or share customer proprietary network information (CPNI) without individuals opting into it.

While the FCC will not apply those rules exactly as they applied to phone companies, it retained the general authority to do something and has said that consumer privacy needs are no less important online when they communicate over a broadband Internet connection.

For the full story go to Multichannel.com.

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.