FTC Chair Says FCC Makes Sensible Calls in ISP Privacy Rules

LAS VEGAS -- The FCC mostly took the right approach in its October order on ISP privacy rules, said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez during a one-on-one Thursday at CES with CTA President Gary Shapiro. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler canceled plans to attend (see 1612290041). The session with just Ramirez appeared to draw a smaller audience than is usual at CES for the session with the regulatory chiefs. Wheeler “changed his plans and is not here,” Shapiro said.

One of FTC’s core missions is making sure the privacy of consumers is protected, Ramirez said. Data security “is one of the major challenges that we face as a nation,” she said. Headlines about data breaches are frequent, she said: “That’s an issue that I believe we really need to be paying close attention to.”

Ramirez defended the FCC’s privacy rules, which Wheeler said when they were approved 3-2 had been changed to more closely match the FTC’s privacy guidelines (see 1610270036). Shapiro asked Ramirez if the FCC drew “sensible” lines. “I think they did,” she responded. The FCC went through a rulemaking process and the FTC filed comments, she noted. The FTC raised many concerns about the FCC's initial approach (see 1606020062). “We were very pleased that the FCC ended up taking a number of the comments that we submitted,” she said. “The main focus is on transparency, on providing consumer control and choice and also on security. … We certainly agree with that general approach.”

Cable, wireless and other parties this week asked the FCC to reconsider the rules (see 1701040042). Revising the rules is expected to be an early focus of the new Republican-controlled FCC. Separately, FTC Commissioner Terrell McSweeny and FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said it would harm consumers and innovators if the communications regulator's net neutrality order is rolled back, as Republicans promised (see 1701050085).

The many IoT devices on display at CES this week point to the importance of data privacy, Ramirez said. Connected toys used by children pose particular concerns, she said. “We’re seeing so much investment and innovation in the area of autonomous vehicles, but connected vehicles also pose risks,” she said. “All of these connected devices, while they bring a lot of benefits to consumers … they also raise very serious security risks industry needs to pay close attention to.”

Ramirez said she had been on the CES show floor and saw that many of the technological advances depend on the gathering of data. “That’s only going to accelerate as companies continue in the area of artificial intelligence, for example,” she said. AI requires machine learning, she said. “That will depend on just large amounts of data.” Companies need to think about privacy and data security “with every single product they put out there,” Ramirez said. “That has to be top of mind.” Consumers also have responsibilities, she said. Consumers need to be willing to change passwords and update the software on their devices, she said.