Federal Communications Commission

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2024 was a year chock-full of data breaches and privacy violations. Many new data privacy and cybersecurity regulations were introduced (and became effective), and regulators sent a strong message to businesses that privacy must be at the forefront of their strategy and goals and that robust security controls are required to protect employee and consumer…

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) has not been updated in over 30 years. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been asked by Congress to take “decisive action in addressing the escalating issue of fraudulent and scam text messages that target American consumers.” The TCPA restricts the hours in which telemarketers can call, prevents businesses…

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced its proposal to create a Schools and Libraries Cybersecurity Pilot Program that would help K-12 schools and libraries protect their broadband networks and data from cyber threats. The pilot program is part of the FCC’s Learn Without Limits initiative, which aims to ensure connectivity and digital equity for…

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will categorically ban devices over national security concerns for the first time in history. Per a new order, the FCC will prohibit the import and sale of devices produced by Huawei and ZTE, and restrict the use of several other Chinese-produced devices for government and critical infrastructure purposes. Huawei…

How will a Biden-Harris presidency affect the U.S. privacy landscape? Let’s take a look.

Federal Privacy Legislation

On both sides of the political aisle there have been draft proposals in the last 18 months on federal privacy legislation. In September, movement actually happened on federal privacy legislation with the U.S. Setting an American Framework to…

Lead plaintiff, John Herrick, in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class action lawsuit against GoDaddy.com LLC (GoDaddy.com) opposed an Arizona federal judge’s May 2018 decision to grant summary judgment in favor of GoDaddy.com. The court granted summary judgment on the grounds that the platform used to send the text messages did not qualify as…

Recently, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed a $2.8 million fine against HobbyKing for allegedly marketing to amateur drone operators non-compliant models of devices used to relay video feed from the drones. Specifically, HobbyKing, a Hong Kong-based drone distributor, allegedly markets drones that transmit video in unauthorized radio frequency bands, and operate at excessive transmission…

The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) potential reversal of the Obama Administration’s ‘Net Neutrality’ rules have been a constant headline lately. Most media coverage goes to the core principals of net neutrality, including blocking, throttling and pay for priority of internet content; however, privacy is also a factor.

Primarily, the FCC issued broadband privacy rules in 2016 after its 2015 net neutrality rules. The broadband privacy rules amongst other things, required websites and internet service providers (ISPs) to use an opt-in system to share or sell customer’s personal information like web history data, app usage data, etc. The FCC’s ability to enforce such rules hinged on a major component of the net neutrality rules which designated ISPs as common carriers and allowed the FCC to apply Title II of the Communications Act to ISPs. 
Continue Reading The Reversal of Net Neutrality on Privacy 101