Hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation - Opening Statement of Sen. Bill Nelson, Hearing on the FCC's Proposed Privacy Regulations

Hearing

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing.

In our constantly connected world, where everything from shopping to health research to job applications take place online, companies are collecting unprecedented amounts of personal information and creating ever more sophisticated individualized profiles of consumers usually without their knowledge.

As a result, the question about how best to protect consumer privacy and give consumers more power over the collection and use of their personal information has never been more important.

My track record in support of strong consumer privacy protections is clear.

Along with Senator Blumenthal, I introduced legislation this Congress to establish national data security and breach notification standards and provide additional authority to enforce these new standards.

I also have publicly called on the FCC to investigate specific practices or products that threaten consumer privacy. I have called on CEOs of communications companies to provide assurances that they are protecting consumer privacy.

We all share the same goal -- how best to protect consumer online privacy.

But it strikes me in looking at the FCC's proposed privacy rules that both sides of the debate come at these questions with preconceived notions about how best to achieve this goal.

On one side, we are told that the FCC should not be adopting any rules for broadband providers because we are not also applying those same rules to every online player.

On the other side, we are told that the FCC should adopt the most stringent rules possible in order to prohibit broadband provides from using any consumer data.

For me, the question is ultimately how to preserve the benefits of online commerce but in a way that takes into account consumers' right to know about, and when appropriate, control the collection and use of their personal information.

Putting aside claims of regulatory overreach or power grabs, let's be clear: the FCC IS the expert agency for regulating communications networks, including broadband networks.

It is an expert oversight agency with flexible, forward-looking authority to protect consumers. In fact, I have pushed the FCC over the past several years to use that authority to protect privacy.

We need regulators who are not afraid to use their authority when necessary -- including to protect consumer privacy -- but also know when to exercise that authority with humility.

This is a difficult balance, but that does not mean that an agency should defer or otherwise be reluctant to do what it believes is best to protect consumers.

The FCC is still in the middle of a rulemaking to sort all of this out. I look forward to hearing about the FCC's proposals and alternative approaches, but make no doubt, at the end of the day, I'm going to side with consumers and whichever approach that I think best protects the privacy of broadband subscribers.

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