Faso bucks party on internet privacy
Votes against rule repeal backed by GOP that could make browsing habits public
WASHINGTON >> Mid-Hudson Congressman John Faso broke ranks with his Republican colleagues in the House when they voted to repeal a rule intended to preserve privacy on the internet.
The House voted 215-205 on Tuesday to overturn the rule, which was issued in October by the Federal Communications Commission to give consumers greater control over how internet service providers share information.
Reversing the rule could, eventually, allow providers like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon to sell the browsing habits of their customers.
The Senate already approved reversing the rule. The House action leaves the final decision with President Donald Trump.
The Trump-appointed chairman of the FCC, Ajit Pai, is a critic of the broadband privacy rules and has said he wants to roll them back.
Faso, R-Kinderhook, said he voted to keep the rule in place because “ultimately, it is consumers who have the right to decide how their information will be used.”
“I support the need for internet service providers to obtain affirmative opt-ins from consumers for their personal information,” Faso said in a prepared statement. “... I could not support [Tuesday’s] vote to roll back privacy protections implemented by the Federal Communications Commission.”
Faso was one of 15 Republicans to vote against the rule reversal.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Republicans put profits over the privacy concerns of Americans.
“Overwhelmingly, the American people do not agree with Republicans that this information should be sold, and it certainly should not be sold without your permission,” Pelosi said. “Our broadband providers know deeply personal information about us and our families.”
Internet companies like Google don’t have to ask users’ permission before tracking what sites they visit. Republicans and industry groups have blasted that discrepancy, saying it was unfair and confusing for consumers.
But proponents of the privacy measure argued the company that sells you your internet connection can see even more about consumers, such as every website they visit and whom they exchange emails with. That information would be particularly useful for adver-
tisers and marketers.
Undoing the FCC regulation leaves people’s online information in a murky area. Experts say federal law still requires broadband providers
to protect customer information — but it doesn’t spell out how or what companies must do. That’s what the FCC rule aimed to do.
FCC Chairman Pai and other Republicans want a different federal agency, the Federal Trade Commission, to police privacy for both broadband companies like
AT&T and internet companies like Google. GOP lawmakers said they care about consumer privacy every bit as much as Democrats did but that it would have stifled innovation and picked winners and losers among internet companies.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.,
said the FTC has acted as America’s online privacy regulator since the dawn of the internet. He called the FCC rule an effort to strip the agency of that role.
Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder of Kansas joined Faso in parting ways with his Republican colleagues on the issue. He said the privacy
protections were “commonsense measures” that would have ensured internet users continue to have control over their personal information.
“We don’t want the government having access to our information without our consent, and the same goes for private business,” Yoder said.
The American Civil Liberties Union urged Trump to veto the resolution, appealing to his populist side.
“President Trump now has the opportunity to veto this resolution and show he is not just a president for CEOs but for all Americans, said the ACLU’s Neema Singh Guliani.