[brantg]

Great summary - thanks.

I read into it a bit more. The original FTC suit was brought against AT&T in 2014, but in 2015 the FCC reclassified ISPs as common carriers under Title II. So the 9th Circuit's August ruling just reflected that reclassification by the FCC.

The FCC's new consumer protection rules from last year are much harsher for ISPs than the previous FTC rules, so now there is a two-tiered system of data protection.

Senator Flake suggested in the WSJ that he wants the FCC to come up with consumer protection rules for ISPs that use the FTC's framework. (Source: https://archive.is/hKz0a)

To protect consumers from these harmful new regulations, I will soon introduce a resolution under the Congressional Review Act to repeal the FCC’s flawed privacy rules. While the resolution would eliminate those rules, it would not change the current statutory classification of broadband service or bring ISPs back under FTC jurisdiction. Instead, the resolution would scrap the FCC’s newly imposed privacy rules in the hope that it would follow the FTC’s successful sensitivity-based framework.

This seems pretty reasonable, but we still need Congress or the FCC to come up with another system that will fill the regulatory gap left by the 2015 rule change.