US Congress approves sale of browser history by providers
The US House of Representatives has passed a resolution that allows Internet service providers to trade browsing history with third parties without users’ consent. The Senate previously voted in favor of the resolution.
In total, all 190 Democratic members of the House of Representatives present voted against the resolution. Republicans voted 215 in favor and 15 against. A majority voted in favor of the resolution. A week ago, the Senate passed the resolution by a narrow majority of 50 to 48 votes. President Trump now only needs to sign the proposal. The White House has already indicated that this is likely to happen.
This passed resolution puts an end to the privacy rules that the FCC put in place during the Obama administration. Under these rules, ISPs must inform their customers about the information they collect about users. It was already clear that these rules might be reversed because Republicans are in the majority in Congress and current FCC Republican Chairman Ajit Pai voted against these rules as a committee member at the time and wanted to get rid of them because they would be too confusing. are.
Pai has commented that he is satisfied with the result. He said the FCC’s old privacy rules were unfair because they favored certain companies over others. Pai is referring to companies such as Facebook and Google. According to him, it is not fair that they are allowed to share user data without permission, while the FCC previously banned it for ISPs. Pai says he will ensure that “consumers’ online privacy is protected by a consistent and substantial framework”. He wants to achieve this by making the less strict regime of the Federal Trade Commission leading again on this subject. According to Pai, this body has decades of experience and expertise in regulating the providers.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has reacted with disappointment to the vote. The organization says that “if the resolution is signed, companies like Cox, Comcast, Time Warner, AT&T, and Verizon will have the freedom to see anyone’s search history, sell Internet users’ data, and bombard users with unwanted ads. Worse, consumers now have to pay a privacy tax in the form of VPNs to protect the privacy of their information”.
A Democratic member of the House of Representatives, Anna Eshoo, says the implications of these new rules are clear: “Providers may sell your personal information to the highest bidder without prior authorization. And no one can protect you from it.”
If President Trump actually signs the proposal, providers will be able to share privacy-sensitive information with third parties later this year without the explicit consent of internet users. This specifically concerns information such as browsing history, the use of apps, financial information, data about the user’s location and the content of emails. Earlier, the CTIA, an interest group of American internet providers, already argued for the abolition of these privacy rules.