How the FCC wants to protect Internet users’ privacy

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman, Tom Wheeler, proposed a new set of privacy rules to require broadband providers to receive customers’ permission before using any of their data. The bid is intended to give Web users the same protection online as they would receive with their telephone providers.

The proposal limits how carriers such as Verizon, Comcast, and T-Mobile can handle subscribers’ personal information, including Web browsing habits, which apps they use most, and other sensitive data.

While it’s just a proposal at this point, if approved, the rules would apply to both mobile and home broadband and expand the FCC’s role to oversee an industry that relies primarily on customer data as a source. Currently, companies are free to gather any information and even share it with third parties.

“Every broadband consumer should have the right to choose how their information bits should be used and shared,” Wheeler said. “And every consumer should be confident that their information is being securely protected.”

However, the rules would still allow Internet providers to use customer data to market new products to their own subscribers. For example, Verizon might use data from its FiOS customers to advertise its cell service to those same customers.

The proposed rules section off into three basic categories. The first relates to information that providers need to deliver their service. Under the regulation, a customer would deem to provide that consent upon signing up for the service. For example, a company needs to be able to bill you and bring you to the Web addresses you type in.

A second category relates to the provider’s ability to persuade you to buy other services. For example, Verizon could market its home Internet service customers. In this category, customers would have to opt out if they do not want this type of communication.

The third category relates to all other types of information and sharing it with third parties. For a service provider to share or use this sort of information, it would have to receive explicit consent from its customers.

The FCC is proposing these rules under the same 2015 Open Internet order that established net neutrality, but opponents are challenging the proposal to consider broadband access as a communication service. On the other side of things, privacy advocacy groups and Democratic lawmakers are both pushing for this type of privacy legislation.

Source: Recode via The Washington Post