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Senate Guts Privacy Rules. Will House Follow Suit?

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Re: Senate Guts Privacy Rules. Will House Follow Suit?

#11

Post by throwaway91111 »

joshontheweb wrote: post #7
maxxxxx wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They read papers prepared by lobbyists, think "makes sense" and vote for it. That's how law making often works.

I'm having a hard time imagining a compelling case that the lobbyists could present though. Are most of these representatives just willfully corrupt? I hate to vilify people unduly but it is becoming hard to understand the thought process here.

I suppose you could pitch it as making the internet more efficient economically. I don't think that increased consumer purchasing is necessarily high value, but it certainly has economic benefits to spending.

Re: Senate Guts Privacy Rules. Will House Follow Suit?

#15

Post by forgotmysn »

joshontheweb wrote: post #7
maxxxxx wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They read papers prepared by lobbyists, think "makes sense" and vote for it. That's how law making often works.

I'm having a hard time imagining a compelling case that the lobbyists could present though. Are most of these representatives just willfully corrupt? I hate to vilify people unduly but it is becoming hard to understand the thought process here.

think of elected representatives as beholden to shareholders, rather than voters, and it might make more sense to you.

Re: Senate Guts Privacy Rules. Will House Follow Suit?

#16

Post by JumpCrisscross »

Here's the roll-call vote [1]. Find your Senator. If they voted in agreement with your views, call and congratulate them. If they didn't, call and explain why you're disappointed. Then immediately call your Congressperson.

[1] https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_...

Re: Senate Guts Privacy Rules. Will House Follow Suit?

#18

Post by Ductapemaster »

dforrestwilson1 wrote: post #6
wickedlogic wrote: post #3

If you do talk with your representatives, remind them this essentially means their browsing history, and the histories of their families, their constituents, and their constituents families will be available for sale at best, or once collected and sold are highly likely to be in a databreach before long. The aggregate of that information will be used to treat those people differently in some aspect or another.

Trying to get caught up on this. How big a difference is this to what Google and Facebook are doing currently?

While there are similar practices that Google and Facebook have (eg. tracking your activities outside of their website), this is much more problematic and sinister for a couple reasons:

Access: Many people in this country do not have a choice as to which ISP they use. They are locked in due to anti-competitive practices, rural homes, or some other reason. You can make the choice much more easily not to use a certain website that tracks your behavior.

Cost also comes into play here, as you pay your ISP to deliver service. Google and Facebook are free, because they subsidize their services by selling and collecting data. Your ISP charges you a large amount of money already, and are increasing their own margins through this practice. It would be different if they did something akin to what Amazon did with their Kindles, where you provide the same service with and without tracking, and charge appropriately. The way things are now, you don't have a choice.

Lack of notification: Your data is being collected and sold through an implicit agreement with your ISP, likely entombed in a bunch of fine print that no one ever reads, nor anyone but a lawyer could decode. While this is the case with Google and Facebook, it's pretty much common knowledge that they do this. The carriers and ISPs implemented their tracking under-the-radar, and provided no way for anyone to opt-out.

I'm sure there's a lot more arguments out there, but that's what I have on top of my head right now.

Re: Senate Guts Privacy Rules. Will House Follow Suit?

#19

Post by wickedlogic »

dforrestwilson1 wrote: post #6
wickedlogic wrote: post #3

If you do talk with your representatives, remind them this essentially means their browsing history, and the histories of their families, their constituents, and their constituents families will be available for sale at best, or once collected and sold are highly likely to be in a databreach before long. The aggregate of that information will be used to treat those people differently in some aspect or another.

Trying to get caught up on this. How big a difference is this to what Google and Facebook are doing currently?

While not quite accurate... if you imagine what Google/Facebook might know, then imagine a carrier who watched you enter/leave those pages, and potentially interact with any of those pages. The network footprint of a modern webpage interaction is more like an event stream than people realize.

Re: Senate Guts Privacy Rules. Will House Follow Suit?

#20

Post by rosser »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #16

Here's the roll-call vote [1]. Find your Senator. If they voted in agreement with your views, call and congratulate them. If they didn't, call and explain why you're disappointed. Then immediately call your Congressperson. [1] https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_...

TL;DR on the roll-call:

  Yea:    50, all R
  Nay:    46 D, 2 I
  Abstain: 2, all R
EDIT: Thanks, zedpm.
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