Re:We Have 24 Hours to Save Online Privacy Rules
by devindotcom on Monday March 27, 2017 @02:08PM
(#13970182)
The FCC has no authority over media and retail companies - they DO have authority over ISPs in some aspects. They have passed consumer protection regulations relating to the transmission and storage of data before.
The practices you describe (with Amazon etc) are none of the FCC's business. Anti-competitive behavior and privacy violations by non-telecoms businesses falls under the authority of the Federal Trade Commission.
It means something, because the idea is to protect the vulnerable from predatory practices, not to prevent the technically proficient from what they see as easily avoided practices.
Re:We Have 24 Hours to Save Online Privacy Rules
by unethical_ban on Monday March 27, 2017 @02:12PM
(#13970215)
Where should consumer protection exist? As one agency? That means they need to staff people with dozens of fields of expertise, and it gives politicians (Republicans) one throat to choke when they want to "kill big government".
Why not let the agencies that administer different fields and businesses have a "consumer protection" section?
Guys, I don't think the "Federal Communication Commission" should be passing consumer protection regulations. What's to stop Amazon, Netflix, etc from selling a service where an advertiser sends them an IP and they get back your name and interests? These regulations need to be passed at a much broader level. I think the FCC should focus on anti-competitive behavior on ISPs right now, and leave these sorts of matters to another regulatory body.
And besides, with TLS (and DNSCurve if you're paranoid), I'm not sure this regulation means much anyway.