FCC Privacy Rules Should Mirror Rules by FTC, CAGW Says
Citizens Against Government Waste said FCC ISP privacy rules should be harmonized with FTC privacy rules. Early reply comments are starting to hit the FCC (see 1606280075), even though the agency pushed back the due date until July 6. They…
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were initially due Monday. “Rather than follow the proven standard set by the FTC, the NPRM would reinvent the wheel, which will create an uncertain and confusing framework,” CAGW said. “Activist groups pushing for heavy-handed, public utility-styled Internet privacy regulations cry that FTC enforcement of Internet privacy -- one which has successfully guided the Internet’s development for ISPs and edge companies these past two decades -- no longer works,” Media Freedom said. “For ISPs, that is. For companies like Google and Facebook -- the most dominant and inescapable data Hoovers on the Internet -- FTC enforcement remains OK.” Sound privacy rules depend on protecting data privacy, the International Association of Privacy Professionals IAPP commented. IAPP said training is one answer: “Many incidents warranting breach notification do not occur from third party malicious attacks, phishing schemes, or other external forces. Customer privacy and security may be violated by careless data handling practices, including accidental or inappropriate email attachments, lost devices with unencrypted personal information, products and services that needlessly gather and leak personal information, improper record retention and destruction policies, and the like.” The comments were filed in docket 16-106. The FCC has logged 208,591 comments, most very short, in the docket in the past 30 days.