Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. Search engines log every query you enter. Social networks track every person youve met. And allowing your Internet Service Providers to serve targeted ads based on consumers Web activity without your permission would mark a significant retreat from privacy as well as a retreat from what Americans have always expected from their networks Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler told Senate lawmakers Thursday.
When I made a phone call to order something and then got on the mailing list of Hammacher Schlemmer that was between me and Hammacher Schlemmer Wheeler said during this afternoons hearing on privacy. The network delivered me there without taking my information.
He added that an attempt by ISPs to serve ads to consumers based on their Web activity would represent a significant shift from the historic practices of telephone companies.
Its crucial that we understand that that is a retreat from privacy Wheeler said near the end of a 90-minute hearing of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy Technology & the Law.The hearing centered on the FCCs proposal that broadband providers obtain consumers opt-in consent before using data about their Web-surfing activity for ad purposes. Consumer advocates support the proposal while the ad industry cable companies and telecoms oppose it.
Wheeler argued that the privacy rules are necessary for a number o crucial reasons including that ISPs have far-ranging views into their subscribers Web use.
But Republican Commissioner Ajit Pai disagreed saying the proposed rules will give edge providers like Google and social networks an advantage over Internet service providers.
Search engines log every query you enter. Social networks track every person youve met. Online video distributors know every show youve ever streamed. Online shopping sites record every book every piece of furniture and every medical device you browse let alone purchase said Pai in prepared testimony.
And yet the FCC only targets one corner of the marketplace.
Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez told lawmakers the agency will weigh in on the FCC proposal. But Ramirez didnt say whether the FTC intends to support those rules
