The House just voted to wipe out the FCC’s landmark Internet privacy protections

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline wants you to remember the 80s.

Subscriber Link - click here to make yours.

Tuesday, 28 March 2017

quote [ Privacy advocates called the House vote "a tremendous setback for America." ]

Good news everyone!

From WaPo

Reveal

The House just voted to wipe out the FCC’s landmark Internet privacy protections

By Brian Fung
March 28 at 5:58 PM

House Republicans voted overwhelmingly Tuesday, by a margin of 215-205, to repeal a set of landmark privacy protections for Web users, issuing a sweeping rebuke of Internet policies enacted under the Obama administration. It also marks a sharp, partisan pivot toward letting Internet providers collect and sell their customers' Web browsing history, location information, health data and other personal details.

The measure, which was approved by a 50-48 margin in the Senate last week, now heads to the White House, where President Trump is expected to sign it.

Congress's joint resolution empowers Internet providers to enter the $83 billion market for online advertising now dominated by Google and Facebook. It is likely to lend momentum to a broader GOP rollback of Obama-era technology policies, and calls into question the fate of other tech regulations such as net neutrality, which was approved in 2015 over strident Republican objections and bans Internet providers from discriminating against websites. And it is a sign that companies such as AT&T, Comcast and Verizon will be treated more permissively at a time when conservatives control both the executive and legislative branches.

Supporters of Tuesday's repeal vote argued the privacy regulations, written by the Federal Communications Commission, stifle innovation by forcing Internet providers to abide by unreasonably strict guidelines.

"[Consumer privacy] will be enhanced by removing the uncertainty and confusion these rules will create," said Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who chairs the House subcommittee that oversees the FCC.

No longer satisfied with selling access to the Web, Internet providers are increasingly invested in the data their users generate as they visit one website after another. By understanding what content they consume — whether that be Netflix, WebMD or PornHub — providers may glean an enormous amount of information about Americans.

Because they can see all of the online activities of users as they browse different sites on the Web, critics of the legislation said, Internet providers enjoy an enormous degree. And unlike search engines or streaming video sites, which consumers can easily abandon if they do not agree with their privacy practices, it is far more difficult to choose a different Internet provider. Many Americans have a choice of only one or two broadband companies in their area, according to federal statistics.

Privacy advocates called the House vote "a tremendous setback for America."

“Today’s vote means that Americans will never be safe online from having their most personal details stealthily scrutinized and sold to the highest bidder,” said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. “Donald Trump, by giving away our data to the country’s leading phone and cable giants, is further undermining American democracy.”

Industry groups said Tuesday's vote does not diminish broadband companies' commitment to user privacy.

"Our providers care very deeply and have a strong track record of operating in ways that protect and safeguard the privacy of their customers' data," said James Assey, executive vice president of NCTA — The Internet & Television Association, a top cable trade association. "These are program features that are built in by design; they existed long before the FCC rules were adopted, and they will exist long after the FCC rules are withdrawn."

The FCC's new Republican chairman, Ajit Pai, called the legislation "appropriate" and blamed his predecessor for executive overreach. He also said that responsibility for regulating Internet providers should fall to the Federal Trade Commission, despite the fact that the agency currently lacks the legal authority to do so.

"Moving forward, I want the American people to know that the FCC will work with the FTC to ensure that consumers’ online privacy is protected though a consistent and comprehensive framework," said Pai. "The best way to achieve that result would be to return jurisdiction over broadband providers’ privacy practices to the FTC, with its decades of experience and expertise in this area."

[SFW] [Big Brother]	[+3]
[by sanepride@11:00pmGMT]

Comments

Nikan said @ 1:12am GMT on 29th Mar [Score:2]

So GOP folks are insanely upset that Trump may have been "tapp"ed in his dreams and how horrible is that. 2 weeks later they tap everyone because it's good for America.

Ankylosaur said @ 2:18am GMT on 29th Mar [Score:1 Funny]

They're privatizing tapping. Business can tap more efficiently and innovatively than Big Government's single tapper system.

cakkafracle said @ 2:11am GMT on 29th Mar [Score:1 Underrated]

"If Trump signs the legislation as expected, providers will ~~be able~~ continue to monitor their customers’ behavior online and, without their permission, use their personal and financial information to sell highly targeted ads"

fixed

rylex said @ 11:57pm GMT on 28th Mar

So i'm just curious. here's an open question for everyone in the US:

How bad would it have to get before you decided to take up arms to fight our oppressors?

Bleb said @ 12:28am GMT on 29th Mar [Score:3 Underrated]

I'm not an American, but you've got roughly half a population who are an overlapping mix of:

- too uneducated to understand
- ok with it as long as their evangelical/business/nationalist issues are promoted
- don't care as long as they can still watch NCIS
- fear being proven wrong more than anything and will cling to the deck rail all the way down
I think it would be a very small fraction of the remaining population that would actively protest in an organized way at all, let alone take up arms.

But yeah. Wouldn't it be a plot twist if the Second Amendment Solution ultimately came from the left?

sanepride said @ 1:30am GMT on 29th Mar

In the 60s/early 70s there were armed, militant movements on the left. So there is at least precedent.

steele said @ 12:52am GMT on 29th Mar [Score:2 Underrated]

We can't even agree on who the opressors are.

sanepride said @ 1:33am GMT on 29th Mar [Score:1 Good]

rylex said @ 3:10am GMT on 29th Mar [Score:1 Underrated]

I miss Pogo and Bloom County

sanepride said @ 3:51am GMT on 29th Mar

If you miss Pogo you might be even older than me.

rylex said @ 5:47am GMT on 29th Mar [Score:1 Interesting]

i doubts it. born in 81. i'm just well versed on stuff before my time.

everyone i know has described me as a crotchety old man in my 30's

sanepride said @ 12:27am GMT on 29th Mar

When it comes to taking up arms, really it's mainly people on the far right who seem to have contemplated and prepared for this scenario, at least recently. Otherwise, at least for me, it's kind of impossible to see how something like this could ever unfold.

hellboy said @ 5:44am GMT on 29th Mar

Fight? What on earth for. I plan to leave and let them burn it all to the ground without me.

HoZay said @ 9:39am GMT on 29th Mar

Most of us won't even go vote, why would we take up arms?

Pandafaust said @ 5:25am GMT on 29th Mar

How much do you think it would cost to buy tge entire house repulican body's porn viewing habits, for purposes of publishing in a searchable database. And would any laws prevent this?

hellboy said @ 5:39am GMT on 29th Mar

Not any more.

hellboy said^[1] @ 5:43am GMT on 29th Mar

1. Contact your ISP, inform them that unless they provide a written agreement not to ever do this you will be changing ISPs. (Those of you in monopoly country, sorry.)

2. Set up a VPN.

I'm seriously considering paying for one - if enough people do so, being on the NSA list (not joking, that's what will happen) will be meaningless.

3. See also:

The future of the open internet — and our way of life — is in your hands

How to encrypt your entire life in less than an hour

mechanical contrivance said @ 1:19pm GMT on 29th Mar

Comcast has a monopoly where I live. It doesn't matter, anyway, since all ISPs do this.

hellboy said @ 5:46am GMT on 29th Mar

Oh, and I sincerely hope someone like Anonymous decides to hack and leak all the private information of the cockroaches who sponsored this bill.

Jack Blue said @ 3:09pm GMT on 30th Mar

Or buy it.

https://www.google.se/amp/www.upworthy.com/amp/if-congress-wants-to-put-your-browser-history-up-for-sale-why-not-buy-theirs-first

1	ScoobySnacks
2	HoZay
3	Paracetamol
4	lilmookieesquire
5	Ankylosaur