Commerce Holding FTC Oversight Hearing, Broadband Privacy Expected to Be On Agenda

The Senate Commerce Committee has scheduled a Federal Trade Commission oversight hearing. Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) announced that the hearing will be Sept 27 at 10 am. Look for broadband privacy to be a hot topic of conversation.

Committee Republican Sens have been pushing the Federal Communications Commission to take a page from the FTC's privacy oversight and focus on tailoring broadband privacy to the sensitivity of information, and to adopt an opt-out, rather than opt-in, regime for information sharing, which has been the FTC's approach. The FCC inherited oversight of broadband privacy from the FTC when it reclassified Internet service providers as common carriers, which the FTC is excluded from regulating under the false and deceptive authority the FTC uses. There could also be questions about the recent court decision that called into question whether buying a common carrier could insulate edge providers from FTC privacy regulatory authority.