On March 31, 2016, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that proposed to establish new privacy guidelines for broadband Internet service providers (ISPs).1 The FCC designed the proposal to “ensure broadband customers have meaningful choice, greater transparency and strong security protections for their personal information collected by ISPs.”2 To accomplish this goal, the NPRM proposes to apply the privacy requirements of Section 222 of the Communications Act3 to ISPs that offer broadband Internet access service (or, in the NPRM’s terminology, “BIAS”).4 The FCC asserted that applying the privacy requirements set forth in Section 222 would “give broadband customers the tools they need to make informed decisions about how their information is used by their ISPs and whether and for what purposes [their information may be shared] with third parties.”5
Continue Reading ISPs Could Face New Privacy Regulations Under FCC Proposed Rulemaking
ISPs Could Face New Privacy Regulations Under FCC Proposed Rulemaking
The Internet has transformed the ways that we access, consume, and use information. For years, debates have raged in both the United States and Europe over so-called “network neutrality”—the extent to which the government should require entities that provide Internet access services to treat the content that they transmit equally. In the past several months, there have been significant events with regard to network neutrality laws in the U.S. and the EU. Regulators in both jurisdictions have promulgated sweeping rules that impose new obligations on companies that operate in the telecommunications sector. This article provides an overview and high-level comparison of the new legal framework in both jurisdictions, and offers some key takeaways for companies affected by network neutrality laws on both sides of the Atlantic.