FCC's Broadband CPNI Comments Still Missing

The FCC at press time Thursday had not yet posted what one group said was several thousand comments critical of the chairman's broadband privacy proposal.

The FCC is proposing to require broadband providers to get customers' approval (an "opt in" regime) to share their information with third party marketers, something not required of edge providers like Google and Yahoo!

At press time, there were only 28 comments in the docket, one more than the day before, when the Protect Internet Freedom group, which is strongly opposed to both the new rules and the Open Internet order that prompted them, complained that online petitioner comments had not shown up and wondered why.

FCC chairman Tom Wheeler was asked about the missing comments at a Senate hearing on the broadband CPNI (customer proprietary network information) privacy proposal Wednesday and said it was a software glitch on the group's end that the FCC was working on resolving.

FCC spokespeople were not available for comment at press time on the status of the comments.

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.