Privacy Advocates And ISPs Spar Over Targeted Ads

The Federal Communication Commission's (the "FCC") landmark decision last year to reclassify Internet service providers ("ISPs") as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 implicates policy issues that extend well beyond net neutrality. Perhaps chief among them is the treatment of customer proprietary network information ("CPNI") by broadband access providers. The CPNI rules, which were adopted as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, were originally implemented to facilitate competition in the context of a landline telephone network, rather than address privacy concerns for broadband providers. Yet as part of the FCC's Open Internet Order (which is currently under legal challenge), these rules apply to broadband as well.