New FCC Proposal Goes for Difference-Splitting in Data Gathering

The issue of data gathering in online shopping is a thorny one. Consumers aren’t in a hurry to give away all that much, unless such a gift comes with clear benefit and safety as total as humans can engineer.

Businesses crave data as it becomes actionable insight and improves the chance at profitability. So where should the difference be split? The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may have the answer with a new proposal that aims to both protect privacy and allow data collection.

The current proposal requires companies to get consent to collect data and then disclose the data collection, as well as disclose any breaches that take place within 10 days of discovery.

Sounds reasonable enough, and represents something of a change in the current order as, for now, customers aren’t required to give consent before data is collected.

It doesn’t forbid Internet service providers from sharing data, nor does it alter how social media sites handle data.

The complete proposal goes up to a vote later this month, and reports suggest an opt-in approach seems to be accepted by various advocacy groups like the Center for Digital Democracy.

Not everyone was behind the move, however, including the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, who noted that it was “disappointed by Chairman Wheeler’s apparent decision to propose prescriptive rules on [Internet service providers] that are at odds with the requirements imposed on other large online entities.”

Given that Verizon recently agreed to pay out $1.35 million to settle an FCC investigation, after admitting to using “supercookies”, a kind of unique tracking code that provided information on users’ Internet use without users’ permission, it may well have been time for such modifications.

Indeed, it’s a difficult issue to get around. With the right information about consumers, businesses can specifically tailor recommendations about other products for users, or even offer special discounts based on previous purchases.

That’s a welcome development, but customers don’t want to hand over reams of information that could be sold off later. So having that extra protection in there, an opt-in system, might be just what’s needed to prevent having information pilfered from customers, while still providing the benefits.

Businesses have legitimate uses for data. Customers have legitimate reasons to protect data. Splitting the difference is where life happens, and the FCC may have the right of this one.