Several groups have sent the FCC a letter (pdf) expressing concern at the amount of data collected by the agency's speed tests. The last few years the FCC realized that actually having some real-world data might help inform policy decisions (go figure!) -- so they introduced their own speed test, and launched a program using routers with custom firmware in subscriber homes to track ISP performance. The data has proven semi-useful, allowing the FCC to highlight speed underperformers who've then rushed to correct shortcomings (see: Cablevision).

Data collected includes IP addresses, street addresses, mobile handset latitude/longitude data and unique handset identification numbers. However, groups like the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Communications Liberty and Innovation Project, TechFreedom, and Center for Media and Democracy expressed concern in a letter that there's few if any checks and balances in place governing what the FCC does with this data. The letter complains that the FCC's privacy statement for these services essentially gives the agency carte blanche to do whatever it wants with it -- including sharing it with other government agencies:Granted when you've got a government that has live carrier wiretaps allowing them to snoop through the entire country's traffic in real time, the FCC nosing around in your SamKnows router seems like small potatoes. Still, the groups have a legitimate point in that there's no system in place to ensure the data is protected, and like all terms of service, the FCC's are obnoxiously broad.

At the same time, not all of the folks behind the letter are driven by altruism or privacy rights; several of the groups take funding from incumbent ISPs who've never much liked the fact that the FCC collects this data and highlights industry shortcomings when it comes to speed and performance.