Internet privacy protections overturned

Just days after plans to repeal and replace Obamacare fell apart, U.S. House GOP found something to agree on.

Just days after plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act fell apart, U.S. House Republicans found something they can agree on.

In a 215-205 vote largely along party lines March 28, the House voted to overturn rules created by the Federal Communication Commissions requiring internet service providers like Verizon and Comcast to get permission before using data on customers’ online activity.

Eleven of Ohio’s 12 Republican representatives voted for the rollbacks and all four Democrats voted against it. Republican Warren Davidson, a member of the Freedom Caucus, is the only Ohio representative who did not vote along party lines. Davidson, who took former Speaker of the House John Boehner’s seat, joined Democrats in voting against the repeal.

The FCC, in a 3-2 vote last October, approved the rules, which were scheduled to go into effect in December 2017.

After passing the House, the bill now goes to President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it into law.

The FCC’s rules would have required internet service providers to get explicit opt-in consent from its customers before sharing or selling information ranging from browsing history, health information and financial information.

According to the Washington Post, this meant internet services providers wouldn’t have been allowed to place a notification about their practices in the fine print. Instead, the companies would have to “offer clear notices to ensure that consumers know what they’re agreeing to.”

Proponents of the rollback like Reps. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, and Greg Walden, R-Oregon, argued that the FCC’s protections were overreaching.

“This resolution reverses overreaching, shortsighted, and misguided rules adopted by unelected bureaucrats at the Federal Communications Commission that do little to enhance privacy, but clearly add a new layer of federal red tape on innovators and job creators,” Walden said in a statement. “Once these rules are reversed, the FCC can again work effectively with the (Federal Trade Commission) to ensure that our privacy framework allows the internet to flourish while truly protecting consumers.”

The FCC, however, does have a history of restricting what companies can do with customers’ data. For example, phone companies collect information such as the numbers users call and when they call them, as well as the particular services used, such as call forwarding or voicemail. The companies can only use, disclose, or permit access to this information as required by law, with customer approval or in providing the service from which the customer information was obtained.

Privacy advocates argue that the FCC’s rules help protect consumers.

“Without these rules, these companies don’t have to ask before selling all that information and they don’t have to take reasonable efforts to protect that information when they collect it,” Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pennsylvania said on floor March 28 before the vote. “Make no mistake colleagues, anyone who votes for this bill is telling your constituents they no longer have the freedom to decide how to control their own information. You have given the freedom to big corporations.”

Companies like Facebook and Google already collect use data from its users for advertising, but those companies collect data used only on their sites. Internet service providers can see all of the sites their users visit.

While users can choose to avoid sites that collect their information, it’s not as simple a choice when it comes to internet providers. In most parts of the country, users have few options of broadband internet service providers to choose from.

“Most people can’t simply walk away from their Internet service provider,” Neema Singh Guliani, legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, told CNN. “They need the Internet and they may not have another option.”

Following the vote, Guliani said in a statement “it is extremely disappointing that Congress is sacrificing the privacy rights of Americans in the interest of protecting the profits of major internet companies including Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon. The ACLU is asking Trump to veto the resolution.

Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, opposed the rollbacks, stating the need to “protect the privacy of Americans and not defer to major corporations.”

“With more Americans victimized by identity theft than ever, why would we roll back broadband privacy protections?” Kaptur added.

Messages seeking comment from Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Russell Township, were not returned. Joyce voted to overturn the FCC rules.

The Senate last week passed a resolution to repeal the FCC rules in a 50-48 vote. Republican Rob Portman in favor of overturning the FCC’s protections and Democrat Sherrod Brown voted against it.