The Federal Communications Commission is considering a plan to regulate privacy on the Internet that would exempt social media websites like Twitter and Facebook.
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Under the tentative rules, customers would have the ability to opt in or out of having their information collected and disseminated by Internet service providers for most marketing purposes. However, the rules would not apply to the issues of “government surveillance, encryption, or law enforcement.”
The rules also make note of a special exemption for social media websites, which, the proposal states, are not the FCC’s responsibility. “The scope of the chairman’s proposal does not include the privacy practices of websites, like Twitter or Facebook, over which the Federal Trade Commission has authority,” the document says. It also notes that, in the hypothetical situation of a broadband provider purchasing a social media website, the rules would still provide an exemption.
“An [Internet service provider] handles all of its customers’ network traffic, which means it has an unobstructed view of all of their unencrypted online activity — the websites they visit, the applications they use,” the proposal notes. “If customers have a mobile device, their provider can track their physical and online activities throughout the day in real time.
“When consumers sign up for Internet service, they shouldn’t have to sign away their right to privacy,” adds the proposal, which is being circulated by Democratic Chairman Tom Wheeler. “Consumers should have effective control over how their personal information is used and shared by their broadband service providers.”
The FCC declared that broadband providers fell within its regulatory authority as part of a controversial vote last year. Since that time, the commission has been energetically working to craft new rules for them. To date, the commission has said that so-called “edge providers,” or websites like Twitter and Facebook, do not fall within its authority, commissioners have agreed that may change in the future.
Fred Campbell, a professor of telecommunications law who also runs a group called Tech Knowledge, criticized the proposal in a statement. “It’s the equivalent of adopting a nuclear weapons ban that applies to everyone except the United States and Russia — the world’s biggest nuclear powers — and claiming the ban will keep the world safe from nuclear attack,” he opined.
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The FCC will vote on the rules on March 31. If adopted, their passage will be followed by a period of public comment.
