FTC Chairperson Discusses Findings From Staff Agency Report

FTC Chairperson discussing the concerns about commercial data practices and user privacy says that tremendous amount of data collected about users by the internet service providers can lead to privacy issues.

The chairperson was discussing the agency staff report and the data collection practices done by companies like AT&T and Verizon wireless. The report contains information of data collection practices followed by the companies like T-Mobile, Google Fiber, Xfinity, Charter, Verizon wireless, AT&T, and advertising firms associated with Verizon and AT&T.

According to the information contained in the report some companies collect data of users related to browsing history, which services are streamed, information like race, sexual orientation, real time GPS and more such sensitive information. The agency report stated that this information is sometime shared with third parties which put the user’s privacy and security at risk. Most importantly, the report also found that some service providers keep user’s information for certain period of time whereas some keep their information for longer time as needed.

In some cases, service providers offered choice to users of data usage. Users often agree to it without knowing the impact. Companies like Comcast stated that does not track the users whereas some companies like Google and Verizon declined the comments. Some did not immediately respond to the comments of the staff agency report and the comment of the FTC chairperson.The concerns about data privacy were raised by the chairperson as the report found that internet service providers retrieve large data from users.