Yesterday the FCC announced that it has begun the process of creating new broadband rules for broadband customers. While the agency has only just begun fielding comments (pdf) about the proposal, the goal is simply rules that require ISPs be transparent about the data they collect and sell, and provide consumers with working opt out tools so they have control over how their data is used.
And Comcast is, apparently, outraged.
"The proposed rules will not provide meaningful consumer Internet privacy protections, and will block ISPs from bringing new competition to the online advertising market that could benefit consumers," Comcast's top lobbyist David Cohen says in a blog post. Cohen didn't really explain what said benefits might be, but called the FCC's plan "irrational" and "an unjustified set of regulatory shackles on ISPs."
Again though, if you actually read the FCC anouncement (pdf) and FCC boss Tom Wheeler's outline (pdf) of the FCC's plan, none of what's being proposed is a very big deal, and nearly all of it are things responsible ISPs and companies are already doing (opt out tools, transparency).
"There is no evidence of any problem with ISP privacy and security practices," Comcast also says in the post, ignoring the two biggest broadband privacy issues in the last year.
One was Verizon and AT&T's practice of modifying user wireless packets so they could track consumers and build detailed user profiles. Verizon had been using this system for two years before security researchers noticed, and it took another six months of prodding before Verizon provided opt out tools. The other is AT&T's decision to force AT&T U-Verse customers to pay $30 or more a month to opt out of AT&T snoopvertising. Both instances were key factors in the FCC's pursuit of updated privacy rules.
With companies like Verizon and Comcast specifically getting more and more into the ad business, it's not really shocking that they'd prefer a total absence of any privacy rules. Working opt out tools, transparency and consumer empowerment means some users
might actually decide to protect their privacy, an obvious loss of revenue for these companies. Comcast can't just come out and
say it's solely worried about money, thus the pretense that Comcast's only opposing the rules to avoid consumer confusion and harm.