Kelley Drye Full Spectrum

On April 3, President Trump signed a congressional resolution undoing the comprehensive broadband privacy rules the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted in October of 2016. The privacy rules stemmed from the FCC’s reclassification of broadband as a telecommunications service in 2015, and under the Congressional Review Act, the FCC is barred from issuing substantially the same rules in the future. Further complicating the issue is a decision by the Ninth Circuit last summer, challenging the traditional jurisdictional boundaries over common carriers between the FCC and Federal Trade Commission. In this episode, associate Ross Slutsky and partner John Heitmann explain how we got to this point, what the repeal means for consumers and providers, and what comes next for broadband privacy.