FTC's Wright: IoT Report Lacks Cost-Benefit Analysis

The Federal Trade Commission got plenty of input on its just-released staff report on the Internet of Things (IoT), starting off with commissioner Joshua Wright; the vote was 4-1 to issue the report, with Wright issuing a dissenting statement.

Wright said his issue was that the staff report included a lengthy discussion of broad-based privacy legislation "without analytical support to establish the likelihood that those practices and recommendations, if adopted, would improve consumer welfare." He also wanted to see more cost-benefit analysis of the legislative recommendations, or best practices recommendations for that matter.

Cost-benefit analysis has been a theme in Washington when it comes to Republicans and proposals for new regulations. "Acknowledging in passing, as the Workshop Report does, that various courses of actions related to the Internet of Things may well have some potential costs and benefits does not come close to passing muster as cost-benefit analysis," Wright said.

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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.