FCC to start work on broadband privacy in fall

The Federal Communications Commission will start the rulemaking process Fall 2015 to clarify its expanded privacy authority under new Internet rules. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler made the revelation during a speech, in which he gave a strong defense of the commission's broadband policies, from recent network neutrality rules to a pair of scuttled mergers.

One unsettled issue under the net neutrality order is the FCC's expanded authority to protect broadband customers' privacy -- an authority that has traditionally applied to telephone companies. The FCC released an advisory in May saying it would initially judge Internet providers, like AT&T or Comcast, on whether they are "taking reasonable, good-faith steps" to comply with the general privacy provision, until tailored rules can be developed. "If consumers worry that they don't have sufficient privacy online, why are they going to use online?" Chairman Wheeler asked, adding it is "integral to the growth of broadband."