Former FTC
Chairman Jon Leibowitz submitted comments
to the FCC on May 23, 2016 advising
the Commission to reject new privacy rules for Internet service providers
(ISPs). Mr. Leibowitz states:
The Privacy NPRM,
if adopted as proposed, would result in a detailed set of burdensome data privacy
rules with no precedent in the FTC or other U.S. privacy regimes, and is
inconsistent with the privacy obligations applied to the rest of the economy.
Moreover, the NPRM does not identify any harms that necessitate rules that are
different from the FTC framework. This divergence merits additional study and
consideration.
It is interesting
to see two President Obama appointees, Jon Leibowitz and FCC Chairman Tom
Wheeler, hold opposing views on this proposal. The FTC is the expert agency with
regard to consumer privacy disputes. Mr. Leibowitz outlines in his comments how
the FCC’s proposed rules would harm consumers by creating disparate regulations
between ISPs and the rest of the Internet ecosystem.
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