The FCC has unveiled a proposal that would restrict Internet providers' ability to share the information they collect about what their customers do online with advertisers and other third parties.

If adopted, these would be the first privacy rules for Internet service providers, resulting largely from last year's net neutrality regulations that expanded the Federal Communications Commission's oversight authority over the industry. (Those rules are currently pending in court.)

Thursday's unveiling of the proposal from Chairman Tom Wheeler is just a first step: The FCC is expected to vote to formally propose this plan on March 31, soliciting public comments on a variety of questions about how the rules should work before the final version gets drafted.

The key elements of Wheeler's proposal include a requirement that broadband providers such as Comcast, Verizon or T-Mobile clearly disclose what data they collect on you — for instance, it could be browsing history, use of apps or location — and how they shared that collected data with other companies for marketing or other purposes.

In some instances, subscribers would be asked to opt in or they'd be given a choice to opt out, depending on how the information is used. (Re/code has a helpful breakdownof the details.) The proposal also has provisions for better security of the information traveling through ISPs' networks.

Wheeler wrote in a Huffington Post op-ed that ISPs should be held to the same privacy standard as telephone companies: - Read More

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