Nearly 60 U. S. groups joined together Wednesday to implore the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to adopt stricter privacy regulations for broadband internet providers, Reuters reported.

The groups – which include the American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Watchdog Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Citizen, as well as 54 others – said in a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler that tighter restrictions are necessary to temper the negative effects data mining could potentially have on free speech and equality.

The letter states that the growing role of the Internet in consumer’s everyday lives increases the “potential for surveillance” that could have a “chilling effect on speech” and “increase the potential for discriminatory practices.”

Providers that would be impacted by tougher regulations include mobile and landline phone and cable and satellite TV companies like AT&T, Comcast, Verizon and Cablevision, Reuters said.

Though the immediate implications of the letter were not clear, Wheeler has expressed sympathy for privacy rights in the past.

At CES 2016 earlier this month, Wheeler said in a panel with CTA CEO Gary Shapiro that there should be more security and transparency surrounding the data collected about consumers.

“If an ISP is going to be collecting information, they’ve got a responsibility to make sure it’s held secure,” Wheeler said. “So first, we’ve got to make sure there is security around the information that is collected. Secondly, we’ve got to know that there’s transparency, that you know what’s being collected about you and you know how it’s being used. And thirdly, knowing that, you’ve got to have some choice and say ‘OK, do I want that? Do I want to participate in that?’”

But should he press for more regulation, Wheeler would likely have a fight on his hands.

In November, the FCC rejected a petition from the Consumer Watchdog group that would have forced internet firms like Google and Facebook to honor “do not track” requests submitted by consumers.

FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly in particular has advocated for a hands-off approach to Internet policy regulation.

In an August 2015 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal co-authored with the Federal Trade Commission’s Maureen Ohlhausen, O’Rielly characterized the FCC’s Internet regulations as “meddling.” Citing the importance of the Internet to U.S. economic growth, the pair further stated that the “FCC should refrain from imposing its Byzantine privacy regime on broadband and Internet providers.”