The launch of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) privacy and data protection task force in June of 2023 has led to several major privacy actions. It has also resulted in multiple partnerships between the agency and 10 different state attorneys general. The decision of the FCC to take an active role in enforcing cybersecurity and data protection has increased federal intervention in cybersecurity protections (in lieu of any overarching federal legislation). Moreover, the expansion of this partnership with state attorneys general is resulting in more federal-state collaboration on cybersecurity protections than at any other point in the United States’ history.
This focus is a change in scope for the FCC. According to its leader, Loyaan Egal, the task force is a recognition “of the importance of … the amount of data that we generate on a day-to-day basis.” Some of the task force’s interventions have already led to public victories: this year alone, the FCC has fined major telecommunications carriers $196 million for consent violations, forced TracFone Wireless to pay $16 million for three separate data breaches, and cracked down on additional data breaches and unlawful storage across the telecom sector. These enforcement interventions have come in the wake of a December 2023 Report and Order that expanded the scope of data breach notification rules for telecom carriers. According to these new rules, companies are required to notify the FCC in the event of a breach within seven business days of one being determined.
As a result of this change in scope, the FCC has decided to hire a new chief technology officer to provide technical and strategic advice to the Enforcement Bureau and task force. With previous experience as a senior director of technology at Verizon, Andy Hendrickson is expected to offer insight into how comms networks operate, thereby allowing the task force to better respond to the rapid development of new technologies that can be compromised. With attention turned toward data breaches and treatment of customer data, Hendrickson’s hiring might not be the last addition to the FCC task force. A new federal focus might mean new roles for everyone.
