GN Docket No. 09-51

The Center for Digital Democracy, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, and U.S. PIRG ("Consumer advocacy groups") submit these comments concerning consumer privacy as part of the national broadband plan to the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC").^[1] The FCC has a vital role to play in protecting privacy online. Any broadband policy must address privacy in order to protect online consumers. Not only should consumer data be secured (and data collection minimized), but the FCC must analyze how online data is used to structure the commercial and other transactions that have become a part of the broadband marketplace.

[1] Fed. Commc'ns Comm'n, Notice of Inquiry: In the Matter of a National Broadband Plan for Our Future, GN Docket No. 09-51, Apr. 8, 2009, (hereinafter "FCC Broadband Plan Notice of Inquiry") available at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-31A1.pdf.