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Why a Bill Presented in U.S Senate Against FCC Regarding Internet Privacy?
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Why a Bill Presented in U.S Senate Against FCC Regarding Internet Privacy?

Mar 16, 2017
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A newly submitted bill in the U.S Senate would terminate some FCC (Federal Communications Commission) supervision over private date of online users, including specific information regarding their Web browsing and App usage. The Senate Joint Resolution 34 will lay down the bill by using the CRA (Congressional Review Act) on the instruction of FCC of December 2016 regarding “Rules to Protect Broadband Consumer Privacy”, so it will not take into effect. This bill was presented on 7th march 2017 by a U.S Senator Jeff Flake and it will also stop FCC from implementing same regulations in the future. Flake indicated that the FCC had arranged a “Power Grab” against the FTC (Federal Trade Commission). He criticized FCC for placing ISPs (internet service providers) under rules deflected from the successful sensitivity-based model of FCC.

Why a Bill Presented in U.S Senate Against FCC Regarding Internet Privacy?

The statement of Flake referenced to the recommendations submitted by FTC to FCC in the month of May 2016. The recommendations of FTC mentioned that consumers of ISP should avail an opportunity to “opt in” or “opt out” of sharing their information with their ISP based on the data sensitivity they needed to share. The bill of Sen. Jeff Flake was heavily criticized by a number of online advocacy groups including the (CDT) Center for Democracy & Technology and (EFF) Electronic Frontier Foundation. CDT said in a statement that the rule of FCC perfectly meet the mandate of Congress about “Information Privacy & Security”. The legislative counsel of EFF, Ernesto Falcon said that “if other circuit courts follow the pattern of 9th U.S Circuit Court, the FTC might be interrupted from pushing any authority over broadband internet service providers.