Washington Crams Before Spring Break
[Source: The Benton Foundation, by Kevin Taglang, March 30, 2012]
The Benton Foundation's Kevin Taglang offers a roundup of policy issues regarding the FTC's Privacy Report, Proposed FCC Reform and Digital Divide Information.
FTC Privacy Report
On March 26, the Federal Trade Commission released Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: A Proposed Framework for Businesses and Policymakers, a report setting forth best practices for businesses to protect the privacy of American consumers and give them greater control over the collection and use of their personal data. In the report, the FTC also recommends that Congress consider enacting general privacy legislation, data security and breach notification legislation, and data broker legislation.
House Votes for FCC Reform
While the FTC was asking Congress to work on privacy protections, the House was passing legislation that would require the Federal Communications Commission to do more study and require more public input before releasing regulations, and weaken the FCC's ability to dictate the terms of mergers between communications mergers.
Progress on the Digital Divide?
The Investigative Reporting Workshop recently analyzed FCC and Census Bureau data to create a map that shows subscribership rates and demographic information at the Census tract level. The findings illustrate a Digital Divide rooted in the gap between the rich and the poor. Wealthier households subscribe at a rate of 80 percent to 100 percent, while low-income areas of the city, some exceeding a 50 percent poverty rate, subscribe at a rate of 40 percent to 60 percent. The urban core of the city suffers from biting poverty and low rates of broadband subscribership, while the outer suburbs show sky-high incomes and correspondingly high rates of broadband subscribership.
