15 state Attorneys General urge the FCC to protect consumer set-top box privacy

Fifteen Attorneys General from states across the country – including California and New York – sent a letter to the FCC urging the FCC to protect consumers’ privacy in the Commission’s set-top box proposal. In their letter, the AGs are justifiably concerned about the uneven regulation that would result from the FCC’s proposal.

The FCC initiated a rulemaking designed to give consumers alternatives to the cable and satellite companies’ set-top box, and one of the key issues is consumer privacy.

The FCC’s rules prohibit cable and satellite companies from selling information they gather about customers’ viewing habits to third parties, like advertisers. But the FCC’s rules wouldn’t apply to third-party set-top box providers, such as Google or other high-tech or equipment companies. The FCC’s proposed solution? Require the pay-TV company – Comcast, for example – to make sure that Google’s set-top box protects customers’ privacy. As we’ve written before, Comcast policing Google doesn’t sound promising.

Links:

Attorneys General to FCC: Require Edge to Make Consumer Privacy Pledge (Broadcasting & Cable, June 7, 2016)

Letter from Fifteen Attorneys General to the FCC (FCC, June 3, 2016)

FCC moves to open up the set-top box market (Speed Matters, Feb. 22, 2016)