Google Fiber, Comcast, AT & T and Verizon Face FTC Privacy Study

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Tuesday sent orders to seven major broadband providers seeking information on how companies collect and use the personal information of their US customers.

The orders require the disclosure of internal documents as part of a so-called 6 (b) study, which also includes dozens of questions regarding the collection, retention, use and disclosure of information about consumers and their devices. . The FTC seeks access, among other information, to lists of third parties who have received personal information collected about consumers, as well as descriptions of how and when providers anonymize such data.

"The FTC launched this study to better understand the privacy practices of Internet service providers, in light of the evolution of telecommunications companies into vertically integrated platforms, also offering content funded by advertising, "said the commission. "Under current legislation, the FTC is able to combat unfair and deceptive practices involving Internet service providers."

AT & T, Comcast, Google Fiber, T-Mobile, Verizon and their broadband divisions are among the suppliers who receive orders. Suppliers may file a request to cancel the order. If this happens, the FTC can apply for a court order to compel his company to comply.

In January, more than a dozen US Senators asked the agency to conduct a "broad investigation" on business partnerships between mobile operators and dozens of so-called "location aggregators," involved in the misuse of location data from consumer devices. AT & T and T-Mobile are among the companies that would have allowed customer location data to fall into the hands of, among others, bonding agents.

"It is clear that these mobile phone companies have failed to self-regulate or control the practices of their trading partners and have unnecessarily exposed American consumers to serious harm," the lawmaker wrote.

The FTC declined to say whether the location data scandal had influenced its decision to issue the orders – even though it was looking for details of how companies aggregated these data "including, but not including limit, location information of the cell tower, fine or coarse, or GPS coordinates. "

The authority of the FTC on broadband providers expanded considerably last year after the Federal Communications Commission changed the mobile data classification to be treated again as a "service provider". information "within the meaning of Title I of the Law on Communication. Following the adoption of the FCC's 2015 Internet Order, which classified broadband providers as public operators under Title II of the Communications Act, AT & T challenged the power to the FTC to investigate allegations of deceptive and unfair practices that are detrimental to consumers.

Notwithstanding, a in bench A US Court of Appeals Tribunal of the US Ninth Circuit nevertheless ruled against AT & T, finding that its "non-collective carrier activity" remained subject to the supervision of the FTC.