FCC Shows Hand On Regulation Of Edge Providers

In a prior post, we commented on how the recent expansion of the FCC's authority to regulate the privacy practices of Internet service providers (ISPs) has ignited calls for further expansion of the FCC's authority to cover "edge providers" – online companies that offer services, content, products, and applications over the broadband Internet service provided by the ISPs and that track user activity and collect personal information. Just last week, the FCC provided hints that it might just answer these calls by exercising authority over the privacy practices of edge providers.

In a recent interview, FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly indicated that the FCC intends to expand its authority to include edge providers. O'Rielly stated, "I don't know if it's immediately in the next six months . . . I just know that the commission is going to continue to creep toward edge providers, and I'm very confident that eventually we will capture edge providers under one form or