FTC Set-top Privacy Plan 'Problematic,' Say NCTA, Attorney

The FTC-supported approach to privacy in the FCC set-top proposal is “legally problematic,” said NCTA officials and Gibson Dunn attorney Helgi Walker in meetings Thursday with FCC General Counsel Jonathan Sallet and an aide to Chairman Tom Wheeler, according to an ex parte filing. Walker represented trade groups in litigation against the FCC over net neutrality and media ownership. The FTC proposal to require third-party set-top makers to certify they will abide by the same privacy rules as multichannel video programming distributors would subject “similarly-situated entities to differing enforcement regimes, thereby causing unpredictable, conflicting, and inconsistent enforcement,” NCTA said in docket 97-80.