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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?

#81

Post by js2 »

trendia wrote: post #75
js2 wrote: post #29

I won't be surprised if AT&T revives its "Internet Preferences" targeted ads program[1]. Most customers apparently didn't care and were willing to put up with it for a $29/mo discount. AT&T never indicated why they canceled it, but my money is that it was due to the FCC regulations that were put in place. [1] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/09/att-t...

Reminder that you can use a VPN with many cell phones. (I know it can be done with Android, not sure about iPhone)

Yes, you can use a VPN with iOS. However, AFAIK, the ad targeting program I was referring to was only used on the AT&T broadband Gigapower offering.

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

#82

Post by brantg »

mikeyouse wrote: post #76
brantg wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also don't fully understand this. Jumping in to see if someone can clarify. Here's the text of the bill (it's pretty short): https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-joint-re... It looks like all this does is undo an FCC rule from Dec 2, 2016. My understanding is that if this passes, our internet privacy will be the same as it was on Dec 1, 2016. Am I wrong? Why is this so bad?

> Am I wrong? Why is this so bad? Prior to August 2016, the FTC regulated all aspects of consumer protections. Unfortunately, the FTC has a specific call-out ceding authority to the FCC for certain parts of the regulation of 'common carriers', which ISPs fell into. AT&T sued and said that the FTC carve-out for common carriers means that the FTC can't regulate any part of their business, not even consumer protections…

Great summary - thanks.

I read into it a bit more. The original FTC suit was brought against AT&T in 2014, but in 2015 the FCC reclassified ISPs as common carriers under Title II. So the 9th Circuit's August ruling just reflected that reclassification by the FCC.

The FCC's new consumer protection rules from last year are much harsher for ISPs than the previous FTC rules, so now there is a two-tiered system of data protection.

Senator Flake suggested in the WSJ that he wants the FCC to come up with consumer protection rules for ISPs that use the FTC's framework. (Source: https://archive.is/hKz0a)

To protect consumers from these harmful new regulations, I will soon introduce a resolution under the Congressional Review Act to repeal the FCC’s flawed privacy rules. While the resolution would eliminate those rules, it would not change the current statutory classification of broadband service or bring ISPs back under FTC jurisdiction. Instead, the resolution would scrap the FCC’s newly imposed privacy rules in the hope that it would follow the FTC’s successful sensitivity-based framework.

This seems pretty reasonable, but we still need Congress or the FCC to come up with another system that will fill the regulatory gap left by the 2015 rule change.

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

#83

Post by thomastjeffery »

unhappycyanide wrote: post #61

Help out here please. Is the house doing something different/worse than the senate to gut our privacy protections? Not that I'm ok with this crap (and I'm looking into a vpn now) but I hear they could already sell our data to whoever because they gutted Tom Wheeler's plan.

The Senate voted. Now is the House's turn.

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

#84

Post by M_Grey »

goda90 wrote: post #31
M_Grey wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A VPN you trust not to keep logs, and/or TOR.

How necessary is the not keeping logs thing(unless of course they too sell the data)? Sure if someone is hunting you down and the VPN keeps logs, then they can easily figure it out. But if you're just trying to avoid your ISP selling your browsing data, do you need to be concerned about what the VPN provider knows? Would the ISPs go to the lengths of trying to get that info from the VPN?

Selling the data on would be my primary concern.

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

#85

Post by wodencafe »

ignu wrote: post #25
wodencafe wrote: post #13

What a bunch of sell-out traitors. Is there no party that values privacy, individual liberty, or the constitution? I thought these "Senators" took an oath to protect the constitution. From the way they vote, it seems they never even read it!

uh, no Democrat voted for this. "The Senate" didn't vote for this. The Republicans did.

Yes, their disregard for privacy stems from the last 8 years of unchecked warrantless wiretapping, Snowden revelations, etc.
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