NCTA, USTelecom Back Broad FCC Enhanced Disclosure Stay; Others Oppose Privacy Stay
NCTA and USTelecom asked the FCC for a broad stay of the effective date of the enhanced disclosure rules in the 2015 net neutrality and broadband reclassification order. The motions of CTIA, the Competitive Carriers Association, Wireless Internet Service Provider…
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Association, NTCA and American Cable Association "present compelling procedural and substantive grounds for granting immediate relief from the enhanced transparency requirements in order to avoid irreparable harm," said an NCTA and USTelecom joint filing Monday in docket 14-28. "Importantly, however, the arguments set forth in those motions support granting relief across the industry from the enhanced transparency requirements, rather than staying the requirements only for the members of the associations that filed the motions. Thus, if the Commission decides to grant a stay of the enhanced transparency requirements, it should do so for all providers of broadband Internet access service ('BIAS') -- fixed and mobile, large and small." Meanwhile, in another proceeding, public-interest groups said a separate industry request for an FCC stay of broadband privacy rules was unjustified. "Staying the broadband privacy rules would harm consumers and other parties, and would therefore not serve the public interest," said an opposition filing from Consumer Action and 17 other groups in docket 16-106. "The rules ensure consumers have meaningful choice, greater transparency, and strong security protections for personal information collected by ISPs. Granting a stay would leave consumers unprotected unless and until new rules are established, during which time ISPs could use the troves of sensitive information they collect without giving their customers a choice about whether or how it can be used or disclosed. Reliance on ISPs’ voluntary privacy policies is ill-advised because there is no enforcement mechanism, nor sufficient market incentive for ISPs to honor their promises." If the FCC is inclined to grant a broadband privacy stay, the Voice on the Net Coalition asked it to exclude the commission's "adoption of section 64.2010 of the Commission’s rules, and its elimination of section 64.2009 of the Commission’s rules which are directed to providers of regulated voice services."