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The carriers used data to get into the broadband market

Nov. 23, 2018 by Katherine Berry

The carriers used data to get into the broadband market as part of the plan's rollout. But they didn't disclose how much data they were collecting, which they called "federal recordkeeping requirements." The data they collected were not required to be available to the FCC under Section 215 of the Communications Act or to be treated as government records. Nor was the FCC required to provide a complete listing of all data collected.

In a statement to Bloomberg, the carriers acknowledged its data collection, but argued that it was not for the purpose of collecting data on people who buy the service.

"The Commission's information is not a government record and may be subject to collection under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act," the carriers said.

The FCC also declined to disclose how much of it came from customer data collected from cellphone and phone service companies, which is where the FCC's bulk data collection is likely to end up.

The FCC's data collection program began in 2010, when Google Inc. and AOL Inc. bought Time Warner Cable, which operates its online video market in the U.S. and abroad.

Time Warner acquired the broadband service in an investment of $4 billion . It said it didn't have a legal obligation to collect any data about the customers of those two companies, which are both based in the U.S. and the U.K. .