California PUC rejects tougher smartphone privacy protections

[unhappycamper]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cellphone-privacy-puc-20140117,0,3040011.story



In a 3-2 vote, the Public Utilities Commission denied a petition from consumer groups asking it to investigate the need for stronger phone privacy standards.

California PUC rejects tougher smartphone privacy protections
By Marc Lifsher
January 16, 2014, 6:22 p.m.

SACRAMENTO — California regulators decided Thursday not to consider the need for tougher privacy protection for smartphone users.

In a 3-2 vote, the Public Utilities Commission denied a petition from consumer groups asking it to investigate the need for stronger privacy standards. It would have been the PUC's first attempt to update 2-decade-old phone privacy protections in effect since the dawn of the hand-held cellphone era.

Siding with phone companies, Commissioner Mark J. Ferron opposed new privacy regulations and said there was "a lack of documented examples of actual breaches of customer privacy." The groups seeking tougher regulations "have not identified any sensitive customer information that is not protected by any of the existing privacy laws or regulations," he said.

Favoring a privacy inquiry was Commissioner Catherine J.K. Sandoval, a telecommunications attorney. Given the massive changes in communications of voice and data that enable the tracking of users' locations, financial data and Internet searches, "it is reasonable to reevaluate these practices," she said.