FCC chairman on plan to protect personal data privacy
Americans are increasingly concerned about digital privacy. According to the Pew Research Center, 91 percent of adults feel consumers have lost control over their personal data.
A new proposal from the Federal Communications Commission could change that. Right now, Internet service providers, such as Comcast, Verizon, AT&T and Sprint, can track how long you spend on specific websites and the location of mobile users. That data can be valuable to advertisers or other companies. But the new proposal would require Internet providers to get their customers' explicit permission to share certain information.
"What we're just trying to say is that in a world in which the people who take you to the Internet know everything that you do on the Internet, are you going to be able to control your own private information?" FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told "CBS This Morning" Friday.
The new rules would only apply to Internet service providers -- not websites like Google, Twitter and Facebook, which also keep track of user activity. Companies like Verizon and AT&T say this creates an uneven playing field, but Wheeler called it a "simple concept" that makes sense to apply to Internet providers, as with phone networks.
"Your phone network is protected by our rules at the FCC. Why shouldn't we have the same kind of protections when we use the Internet?" Wheeler said.
Wheeler said the proposal was designed to tackle the growing challenge of keeping up with consumer technology in the 21st century.
"How does public policy keep up with technology and how does public policy make sure that it does not interfere with technological growth," Wheeler said. "All we're trying to do is to say let the person whose information it is reassert control that's been taken away by technology."