Comcast Defends 'Pay-For-Privacy' Pricing, Makes Case To FCC

Comcast is asking the Federal Communications Commission to reject proposed rules that would prohibit broadband providers from charging higher fees to subscribers who decline behaviorally targeted ads.

"A bargained-for exchange of information for service is a perfectly acceptable and widely used model throughout the U.S. economy, including the Internet ecosystem, and is consistent with decades of legal precedent and policy goals related to consumer protection and privacy," Comcast writes in a new FCC filing. The broadband provider adds that a prohibition on a pay-for-privacy pricing system "would harm consumers by, among other things, depriving them of lower-priced offerings." Comcast also contends the FCC "has no authority to prohibit or limit these types of programs."