Federal Government Rejects 'Do Not Track' Petition

By Lauren C. Williams, Think Progress

09 November 15

he Federal Communications Commission (FCC) tossed out a consumer-led petition Friday that would have prevented websites and companies such as Google and Facebook from tracking users on request.

The advocacy group Consumer Watchdog submitted a “Do Not Track” petition to the FCC in June, requesting the regulatory agency to begin the rule-making process to enforce rules that would require online content and service providers such as Pandora, Google, Facebook, and Netflix to honor consumer privacy requests.

Consumers can now enact “do not track” requests in their browsers as a way to keep third-parties — including advertisers and social media companies — from monitoring their online behavior. But edge providers (companies that dish out internet-deployed content, apps, services, and devices) aren’t required to honor, and often ignore, those requests based on current regulations.

In its petition, Consumer Watchdog noted that the FCC plans to impose new privacy rules on internet service providers down the line, but that those plans — and section 222 of the Communications Law under which it can issue the rules — are limited to only broadband providers, not websites.

“The Commission has been unequivocal in declaring that it has no intent to regulate edge providers,” the FCC said in a news release announcing the petition’s dismissal.

The FCC justified its dismissal of the “Do Not Track” petition on grounds that the request was “inconsistent” with the agency’s role in governing internet access. When it reclassified broadband internet access under Title II of the Communications Act to reinstate net neutrality rules, the FCC defined its role to only cover the “transmission component of internet access service,” the agency said.

Quoting Consumer Watchdog, the FCC said, “‘Protecting the authorized use of consumers’ personal information by requiring edge providers to honor ‘Do Not Track’ Requests’ is inconsistent with the Commission’s articulation of the effect of its reclassification of [broadband internet access services] and the scope of the privacy practices … it intends to address.”