The National Cable & Telecommunications Association was not happy with the FCC's proposal, circulated Thursday (March 10) for new broadband privacy rules that, among many other things, require subs to give their permission to share information for targeted advertising.
“We are disappointed by Chairman [Tom] Wheeler's apparent decision to propose prescriptive rules on ISPs that are at odds with the requirements imposed on other large online entities," NCTA said in a terse statement.
FCC senior officials who briefed reporters on the proposal, made it clear the FCC was not imposing any data collection rules on edge providers or Web sites. That includes web sites owned by broadband providers, but that was cold comfort.
"As the full Commission considers further action, we hope that it will engage in a more sober assessment – one guided by facts and not demonstrably false claims and fears – to promote an approach that will ensure greater consistency in consumer privacy protection and fair competition among all Internet participants.”
NCTA had been part of a group asking the FCC not to impose new rules, but instead to take a page from the Federal Trade Commission, which used to oversee broadband privacy before the FCC gave itself primary juridiction via new Title II-based net neutrality rules.
