Mr. President: a populist test
Internet privacy, at least what remains of it, is facing its severest test in years. On President Trump’s desk is a law giving major telecoms such as Verizon and Comcast the right to sell consumer browsing habits to the highest bidder.
It’s a proposal that erases rules adopted last year against such data mining, worth billions to banks, retailers and other businesses itching to target new customers. Search engines and social media firms such as Google and Facebook already track their users, but giving access to the gatekeepers who oversee all Internet traffic is a much bigger proposition.
The plan is sold as a boon to innovation and fair treatment for Internet pipeline providers, not to mention the political appeal of whacking federal regulation. But it flies in the face of Trump’s populist image and frequent pledges to protect ordinary folks against the depredations of big business. Veto this law, Mr. President. Show the country that you mean what you say on an issue of citizen concern.
That plea may be going nowhere, though. By a generally party-line vote, Republican majorities in both the Senate and House approved the measure, sending it to the White House, which is signaling a yes.
Get ready for major intrusions if it becomes law. Browsing histories, app usage and location will all be fair game for telecoms to study. Any dawdling on the Internet, be it shopping for shoes or surfing a porn site, will go right to telecom firms to slice, dice and peddle to a data-hungry advertiser. There won’t be consent forms to check or pop-ups asking for permission.
It gets worse in other ways. The no-sharing rule now on the books was adopted in the final months of the Obama administration, which wanted to wrap up business before a new team took over. Republicans are making their move now, using the once-obscure Congressional Review Act, which allows them to speedily revoke such changes and bar any resurrection of the issue. It’s about as final an exclamation point as Congress can give.
Consumers are left with few options. They can curtail their browsing to limit the damage to their privacy, a tall order in an online world that’s expanding into every corner of human activity. They can shop for a service provider that promises not to peer into their private usage, a solution that may be hard to find. Or users can try encrypting their activities or finding a virtual private network, though both suggestions are complicated and not suitable for most consumers.
These steps would be unduly onerous for consumers, who should enjoy a presumption of privacy unless they give their service providers permission to share or sell their browsing histories. Trump must veto this bill.