The House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection held a hearing July 8 on the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Consumer groups including Consumer Federation of America and US PIRG used the hearing to take aim at broadband pricing information and behavioral advertising. The groups want the Federal Trade Commission to address "truth in broadband advertising," saying companies should be required to disclose their access and usage terms in plain English. "Consumers should be able to choose providers based on truthful information detailing speed and quality of service," they say. They want those disclosures to include bandwidth levels, latency (delay), any limits on access to content and any content getting "preferential treatment. On the behavioral marketing, which is the subject of a bill in the communications subcommittee, they want the FTC to investigate online marketing practices, "expose" ones that compromise privacy, issue injunctions on some current practices they say "abuse" consumers and adopt principles for "technology neutral fair information practices."
