When it comes to fostering good governance, collaboration often brings about positive results. We’ve seen a good example of this as FCC and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau worked together to introduce Broadband Nutritional labels for mobile and traditional Internet service. Unquestionably inspired by the packaging commonly found on food and drinks, these new labels seek to inform consumers about average connection speeds, data caps, and monthly charges before they purchase a service.
Innovative efforts like these are an example of how agencies can work together to help consumers make more informed choices.
Ensuring Internet users have a clear grasp of what they are paying for online is a worthy cause in our ever-connected world. Two years ago, less than half of mobile data traffic was offloaded on to WiFi networks. This figure is expected to grow to at least 60 percent by 2019, along with an increase to over eleven mobile devices per person. This mobile device explosion is exactly why the FCC’s scope on broadband consumer privacy is misguided.
On April 1, the FCC opened a rulemaking process on consumer broadband privacy. While many, if not all privacy advocates agree that greater consumer protections are needed online, the FCC’s narrow aim on Internet service providers makes the potential for clear consumer understanding in this area very murky.
Despite our growing mobile device use, the FCC’s proposal has no intention of addressing mobile device operating systems or Internet browsers, which have the ability to capture massive amounts of consumer data. The proposal’s shortcomings do not stop there as the proposed rules also fail to address widely used social media platforms and larger online content providers — such as Facebook, Google, and Netflix — which some studies indicate.
To put it another way, while the FCC worked with the CFPB for increased consumer understanding when purchasing broadband services, they omitted the key ingredients as it relates to Internet privacy in their most recent rulemaking.
Just like the potential for over-indulgence when consumers see “all natural” or “green”, on food products, rules only for ISPs can foster a false sense of security for those not paying attention to the most egregious and deceptive online data collectors.
Consumers deserve to know upfront the full extent to which their privacy will be maintained on the Internet.
As written, the FCC’s approach does not protect consumers from the threat of unwarranted data collection. But, they could launch a review process that would.Working with agencies like the Federal Trade Commission and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the FCC has an opportunity to set up rules of the road for all online parties. This type of interagency coordination is exactly what President Obama proposed a few short years ago to give users “more control” over how their personal information is used on the Internet.
If the FCC proceeds down their current path of applying inconsistent privacy rules throughout the Internet ecosystem, it could cause serious confusion. Since online data is being collected and used in the exact same ways across the board, consumers would be most protected if privacy rules were applied equally – regardless of manufacturer, device, provider, platform or website.
John Celock is the executive director of 21st Century Consumers, an advocacy organization focused on the interests of consumers using emerging technologies for goods and services.
