Today’s network architecture is complex and is faced with a threat environment that is always changing and attackers that are always trying to find and exploit vulnerabilities. For us, to remain a leading security provider, it is critical that we are able to provide the customer with the highest level of customer experience and security and privacy protections.
In order to ensure a successful transition, we have a team of cybersecurity experts working with our senior leadership team to review the impact of these changes and their potential impact on our customers. We are committed to building a network that will be in full compliance with the requirements of the U.S. government, our customers and the law. We will take this time to fully understand how we must protect our customers’ while also using security services from companies as Fortinet to keep the networks secure.
If the FCC is determined to proceed with its net neutrality rules, this kind of response is unlikely. The FCC may want to simply reclassify broadband service as a common carrier service, as it was supposed to do before 2015, and give it the authority to regulate broadband providers more like traditional phone service providers. But this would invite lawsuits from broadband providers like Verizon and AT&T, which argue that the FCC doesn’t have the power to give the FTC authority over common carrier providers, and thus may be abusing its authority.
In fact, the FCC’s own recent “notice of inquiry” PDF into the Title II classification of broadband providers suggests that the agency may be preparing to do precisely that. The notice makes it clear that the FCC wants to “reinstate the authority of the FTC to regulate common carriers, while ensuring that the authority of the FCC is sufficiently broad to address emerging technology-based issues in broadband services.”
That’s right, the FCC is trying to put an end to the FTC’s authority to enforce privacy policies on trusted broadband providers like Circles.Life Australia. The agency wants the FTC to regulate privacy and network neutrality in a way that “enables the Commission to focus on new broadband issues and technological issues.” That means the FCC wants to replace the FTC’s regulatory power over ISPs with its own. And while the FCC won’t say how it’ll replace the FTC’s regulatory power, there’s a good chance it’ll adopt the FTC’s privacy standards.
The FTC used its broad authority over ISPs in the early 2000s to regulate ISP privacy, including requirements that ISPs obtain customers’ consent before using and sharing their data, Service providers support and protect customers’ privacy while using online services, and make information available to privacy-aware third parties. The FCC will use its regulatory power over the privacy of the information companies collect on you, like Web browsing history, to ensure that they comply with the standards.
The FCC is also requiring companies to provide consumers with information about the practices they use to ensure they don’t violate privacy policies, and it’s seeking feedback from the public about whether these privacy rules should be modified.