The Federal Trade Commission has revised and refined its list of broadband companies it is collecting info from related to their online privacy practices.
Back in March, the FTC announced it was studying how broadband companies "collect, retain, use, and disclose information about consumers and their devices."
While ISPs have been pointing out that Edge providers basically operate in a regulation-free zone when it comes to how they handle user info, the FTC issued "orders" to seven ISPs, AT&T, AT&T Mobility, Comcast (Xfinity), Google Fiber Inc., T-Mobile US Inc., Verizon, and Cellco Partnership (Verizon Wireless)" to get a handle on how they handle that info.
It is not an investigation, but a sort of fact-finding mission by an agency that has found itself overseeing broadband practices and wants to get a better handle on what those are.
This week, The FTC said it was withdrawing the requests to AT&T and Verizon, and instead was sending them to AT&T's advertising subsidiary, Appnexus and Verizon Online LLC and another Verizon ad subsidiary, Oath Americas.
Charter is also getting a new request.
