The termination of the Federal Communications Commission’s data privacy and security rules, along with the end of net neutrality, leave the telecoms vulnerable to cyber breaches, critics say.
Yet, industry representatives reject any linkage between recent regulatory moves and security efforts, and say related cybersecurity work will help telecoms stay secure.
The net neutrality repeal reduces transparency about what Internet service providers are offering, critics say, and thus limits information on the security of their services. And lawmakers’ repeal of the specific privacy and security rules raise various concerns, according to critics such as retired Adm. David Simpson, the former FCC security chief who wrote the regulations.
“The obligation for ISPs to engage in reasonable security practices is eliminated; personally identifiable information and the history of one’s web activity will be sold by ISPs to the highest bidder,” Simpson said last year. “This increases consumer cyber risk exposure, [and] the availability of our digital ‘fingerprints.’”
Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s 2015 net neutrality order classified ISPs as “common carriers” under Title II…
