FCC chairman voted to sell your browsing history – so we asked to see his (opens in new tab)

(zdnet.com)

25 pointselleferrer8y ago5 comments

5 comments

This is awfully misleading. One (the type of tracking referenced) has nothing to do with the other (actual web browsing history, which would spread across multiple machines), other than phrasing.

exabrial8y ago

This entire topic is very sensational. I'm still under the opinion that protecting consumer privacy belongs to the Federal Trade Commission. For example, there's nothing stopping Amazon from providing a service about what you bought based on your IP address to advertisers. This clearly falls outside the realm of the FCC.

gumby8y ago

> I'm still under the opinion that protecting consumer privacy belongs to the Federal Trade Commission.

This is Pai's stated position as well.

I disagree with you both; I think the two commissions deal with different levels of abstraction and have different regulatory models (prospective licensure vs retrospective enforcement, for example).

However this is a topic on which reasonable people can disagree.

cjcampbell8y ago

While I agree that the article (and much of the coverage) is sensationalized, I don't agree that the description applies to the entire topic.

I can see reasonable arguments for supporting regulation under either FCC or FTC. The problem at the moment, as I understand it, is that neither agency has any authority over privacy and security practices of the ISPs.

moomin8y ago

Nah, the Internet is an essential service. (Don't believe me, don't use it for ten years and report back to me.) The provision also lacks meaningful competition in many areas, including this one. This is exactly where regulators get involved.

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