14 DAY TRIAL // Lobby groups from the broadband industry seem to be really happy with the changes brought on by the new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as they celebrate its decision to prevent enforcement of a rule that was supposed to protect customers' private data from security breaches.
As more and more companies face security problems, it seems like such a rule would have been welcomed. However, the FCC decided to put on hold the new security rule that was supposed to take effect this week, Ars Technica reports.
The rule would have required Internet service providers, as well as phone companies, to take reasonable steps to protect private customer information, ranging from Social Security numbers to financial details and even health information, as well as web browsing data - pretty much what hackers go for in a data breach.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai issued a stay of the rule, saying he wants to move authority over data security, as well as privacy-related issues, to the Federal Trade Commission.
Therefore, the rule did not get enforced because Pai believes this is an issue the FTC should handle instead. It is generally understood that until this responsibility shifts towards the FCC, people are to remain unprotected.
Throw some confetti
The Internet & Television Association, the biggest lobby group in the cable industry, rejoiced upon hearing the news. "Today's FCC action to issue a temporary stay of the data security regulation is a welcome recognition that consumers benefit most when privacy protections are consistently applied throughout the Internet ecosystem," a statement reads.
Other lobby groups believe that the stay makes sense, especially since the FCC is quite likely to change its privacy and security rules anyway, so making a change now only to rescind the rule and replace it with a new one, later on, would be too complicated.
The Commission's chief believes that the new rule would have also confused Internet users. "Americans care about the overall privacy of their information when they use the Internet, and they shouldn’t have to be lawyers or engineers to figure out if their information is protected differently depending on which part of the Internet holds it," he wrote.