Taming the Beast: The White House and FCC Throw Down the Gauntlet

[Commentary] The release by the White House of its long-anticipated Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights Act (CPBR), together with the historic decision by the Federal Communication Commission to classify Internet service providers as public utilities, are the latest attempt by the US government to tame the online beast. In both cases, government sides with individual consumers trying to rebalance a playing field that many view as tilted in favor of a consolidated corporate power.

In this sense, I have recently written that privacy is the new antitrust. The role that antitrust played in the wake of the Industrial Revolution is being captured by privacy in the Digital Age. Privacy has become the boundary, the limiting principle, the litmus test for the delicate balance between the tremendous benefits and formidable risks of a dizzying array of technological innovations.


Taming the Beast: The White House and FCC Throw Down the Gauntlet