It’s no stretch to say that online privacy is important to everyone, no matter what they use the Internet for. Yet at the same time, it’s one of the hardest places to maintain a high level of privacy, even with every precaution. However, federal regulators have proposed a new set of privacy rules for Internet service providers, which may help prevent providers from giving advertisers data about their customers’ online activity.

Your Provider May Be Watching You

Do you ever find it odd how you can do one Google search for information on a TV show, then all of a sudden every advertisement you see is for DVDs, paraphernalia, and clothes from that show? That’s no coincidence, and it’s more than just cookies. In fact, some companies have been found using “supercookies,” that track user activity through mobile browsers even when all other cookies have been deleted.

Suggested purchases on shopping websites based on search and purchase history are one thing, but service providers can currently provide a range of information about your browsing preferences to advertisers, whether you want them to (or even know about it) or not.

The FCC’s Proposal

The proposal, set forth before the Federal Communications Commission, is designed to ensure that not only do customers know just how their information is being gathered, but also maintain high levels of security for that information.

Should this it go through, broadband service providers would have to disclose exactly how they gather information on their users’ browsing and activity data. It would provide stronger oversight than Internet companies such as Google are currently under, as the Federal Trade Commission monitors those websites; the F.T.C. cannot create rules for online privacy, but any additional privacy protection is a good thing.

“The principles supporting the new rules – choice, transparency and security – are relatively straightforward and conceptually uncontroversial.  It is how the FCC intends to apply them that will create some consternation among the ISPs,” states Robert Cattanach, partner at the international law firm Dorsey & Whitney, in a statement sent to SiliconANGLE. “The affirmative duty to disclose how customer data is being used, as well as take reasonable steps to protect that information, and notify affected customers within 10 days of discovering a data breach, goes well beyond the negative inference-approach to the FTC’s enforcement authority under Section 5 (‘thou shalt not deceive or be unfair’).”

As it is now, even if your data is encrypted, the pieces can still provide service providers with useful tidbits of information, and if your online activity isn’t encrypted, well, you might as well put the whole thing on film and provide annotated notes.

In addition to making service providers disclose their data collecting methods, the proposal also calls for higher levels of security for customer data. This would be the first time rules have been established for the companies that manage web traffic, and is one of the highest levels of privacy regulations for the technology and telecommunications industries.

What’s the catch? 

However, broadband service providers will still be able to collect and share data with other communications-related organizations, even without user permission. Yet it does stop them from sharing it with non-communications partners without permission, which is a very nice step forward for privacy.

“Perhaps most controversial will be the requirement to secure affirmative opt-in consent for the use and sharing of data that has not been specifically collected for the purpose of providing communications-related services. The exact details and application of the ‘purpose of providing communications-related services’ qualifier will be hotly debated by the ISPs, and almost certain to be the subject of litigation by privacy champions,” Cattanach says.

The F.C.C. will vote on the proposal on March 31^st. Following that, it will be open to comments from the public. However, final rules will not be in place for months afterwards, so there is much that can happen between now and its finalization.

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