FCC Ponders Protecting CPNI in ISP-as-Telecom World

The Federal Communications Commission said Monday it will huddle with broadband stakeholders next month to try to figure out the best way to protect broadband Internet service provider customers' online privacy now that the agency is applying Title II-based Sec. 222 consumer protections to broadband service.

The FCC's Wireline Competition and Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau has scheduled an April 28 workshop to help determine the Sec. 222 duty on telecommunications carriers, which ISPs are now considered per the Feb. 26 title II order, to impose "on every telecommunications carrier to protect the confidentiality of its customers’ information and imposes restrictions on carriers’ ability to use, disclose, or permit access to customers’ individually identifiable customer proprietary network information (CPNI)."

The FCC decided not to apply the same rules it applied to phone company CPNI, saying that may not be the best fit, so now it needs to figure out what is the best fit, including perhaps coming up with new rules that apply to telcos and ISPS.

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John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.