FCC Unveils Task Force to Confront Privacy Issues, Breaches

Jessica Rosenworcel, chair of the Federal Communications Commission, has introduced a task force to address the collection and sharing of sensitive consumer data and other privacy issues in the telecommunications industry. The new entity will be led by Loyaan Egal, the acting chief of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau.

Rosenworcel said on Wednesday that the task force will be responsible for efforts to update an old data breach rule. It will also handle security policies relating to phone number porting and SIM swapping, a type of identity theft where offenders use a victim’s personal data to transfer their phone number to a new SIM card.

The task force is also expected to investigate how telecommunications firms collect and use geolocation data. 

Speaking at a Center for Democracy and Technology event on Tuesday, Rosenworcel noted that 10 out of the 15 leading mobile carriers in the United States give users no way to opt out of having such data harvested, CyberScoop reported Wednesday.

In January, the FCC said it would impose more stringent reporting rules for telecommunications companies that experience data breaches.