The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is calling on the presidential candidates to talk about how to "reform" the FCC and other federal agencies during their debate Monday night (Sept. 26).
In a blog post, the group said that fixing federal agencies is an issue that doesn't get enough attention, citing executive actions and rules that "are impacting the lives of all Americans."
Leading off the list of agencies it cited as in need of reform was the FCC, saying it "continues to assert more power (even after being rebuked by the courts) on net neutrality, expansion of government broadband, and privacy.
Actually, a federal appeals court in June upheld the FCC's Open Internet order, though the most recent decision was a court smackdown of the FCC's preemption of state laws limiting broadband buildouts.
On the privacy front, the FCC is preparing to vote on new broadband privacy rules that ISPs argue puts them at a competitive disadvantage to edge providers like Google and Yahoo! who also collect and share user data but are not under the same regulatory regime FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has proposed.
There are also privacy implications for the chairman's controversial set-top box proposal, which the alliance opposes as based on misguided policy and questionable authority.
