FCC Privacy Rules Pause Is a Welcome Next Step on the Way to Broader Dismantling

WASHINGTON—The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the leading science and tech policy think tank in North America, today released the followed statement from Telecom Policy Analyst Doug Brake urging the FCC to hit the pause button on implementation of the controversial privacy rules:

The FCC privacy framework adopted just last October was a sharp departure from the FTC’s innovation-friendly, flexible guidelines that have overseen a successful burgeoning of the Internet. The order was poor policy and a result of poor process, and should be scrapped entirely.

Today’s statement that Chairman Pai intends to hit pause on the first wave of these rules while a broader review moves forward is encouraging. Hopefully this is the first step in a broader dismantling of these rules and the jurisdiction they’re grounded in.

For more on this issue, see “Why the FCC Broadband Privacy Order Deserves to Be Thrown on the Scrap Heap of Telecom History.”