Telecom Executives Seek Clarity, Predictability in Broadband Oversight
ISP stakeholders want predictable rules on how industry can collect and use consumer data. "We need federal privacy regulation," said FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson Thursday. "We can't deal with a patchwork. We need one law." Attorney and AT&T veteran Robert Quinn at Wilkinson Barker, agreed. "If you don't have a federal law, you're going to have 45 state laws." If the issue isn't addressed, he told the Phoenix Center, "that's a fail for the federal government."
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Wilson will continue to resist any "hipster antitrust" arguments about telecom competition or big-tech breakups. "I think about how we weigh the benefits of a merger in addition to the costs." She said few people within her agency want to return to the days when the FTC was considered "America's nanny."
Consumers can no longer assume privacy is an expectation online, said NCTA Chief-Government Relations Joanna McIntosh. "We have no privacy and we are free to be monetized in every way possible." McIntosh backed middle-ground legislation between no privacy and complete transparency from industry. The stakes go beyond a company's tracking customer purchasing habits and sending annoying advertisements, she suggested: "This is not about red shoes. It's about how you're going to vote in an election. It's about how you feel about social issues."
Consumer data handling entails risk management, said Shane Tews, American Enterprise Institute visiting fellow. But privacy "is something you have to decide emotionally how you're going to manage." She would like consumers to regain control over their own data and how it's used to target them with content. "I don't mind having someone target ads to me," she said. "I'd just like to have some control over it. Is there a way to introduce some humanity into the equation?"
Net neutrality will likely get more debate among federal regulators, speakers predicted. Quinn expects the judiciary to remand the issue to the FCC (see 1902060036): "Courts do the easy thing. They punt all the time." He doesn't believe the current commissioners would be happy to relitigate the matter: "It's not clear whether the FCC wants to scale that wall again." Quinn said the only true answer to net neutrality is legislation. "If you get a Democratic Congress in 2020, they'll put it back in a nanosecond." He said it would be difficult for federal agencies to regulate net neutrality without legislation to back it up. "Reasonable people 10 years ago could have come up with a solution," he said. "We didn't make it happen."
One way or the other, net neutrality is probably headed back to the FCC, said McIntosh. "It's a zombie issue" and a wedge issue that politicians can use to raise money, she said.
Phoenix Center President Lawrence Spiwak urged policymakers to find a way to move spectrum from low-value to high-value use. McIntosh said in the move to build out 5G broadband networks there will be conflicts on how to repurpose spectrum from incumbents not just to core facility holders but for Wi-Fi. "We need more spectrum for Wi-Fi," Quinn agreed. But moving stakeholders away from their existing spectrum licenses takes money. "Somebody's got to pay for that," Quinn said. "Moving people is costly."