FCC's Growing Privacy And Data Security Enforcement

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has had a busy 2015, and its presence in the data security regulatory enforcement space will likely continue to grow. Last year, the FCC named Travis LeBlanc as chief of the Enforcement Bureau. Since then, the FCC has brought three separate enforcement actions against companies for allegedly not safeguarding consumers' personal information, collecting roughly $30 million in fines. Last month, the FCC hired Jonathan Mayer to serve as its technical lead for investigations, signaling that it is likely to continue aggressive enforcement in the privacy and data security spaces.

Companies that fall under the FCC's purview can look to those enforcement actions for guidance on how to avoid running afoul of the Enforcement Bureau: