FTC-enforced privacy and data security standards in the...
FTC-enforced privacy and data security standards in the FTC Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) can apply to residential broadband Internet services, the FTC said in comments filed Friday to the…
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FCC (http://1.usa.gov/1rhjJbF). The comments, filed in Docket No. 14-126, are in response to the FCC’s inquiry on the role privacy and data security play in consumer broadband adoption, the FTC said (http://1.usa.gov/1odLXkf). Broadband providers must uphold any privacy or security commitments, which are regulated under the FTC’s Section 5 authority, it said. But broadband providers are also subject to less obvious laws, such as FCRA. “Although best known for regulating the activities of credit bureaus, the FCRA also applies to companies that provide information to credit bureaus ('furnishers') and companies that use credit reports ('users'),” the FTC said. “Broadband providers often are both furnishers and users under the FCRA.” In these situations, broadband providers must ensure the accuracy of information provided to credit bureaus and give consumers notice when it’s changing its offerings to consumers based on credit report information. The FTC pointed to a 2013 case against Time Warner Cable as an example of FCRA’s application (http://1.usa.gov/ZCQAyt). The commission also cautioned that any broadband service provider that “knowingly” collects personal information from children under 13 is “subject to COPPA’s privacy and security requirements."