MAR 28 2017, 6:05 PM ET

House Votes in Favor of Letting ISPs Sell Your Browsing History

by ALYSSA NEWCOMB

Your internet history and browsing habits are one step closer to being for sale.

The House of Representatives approved a controversial measure on Tuesday that would keep the Federal Communications Commission from enforcing rules passed last year that would ban internet, cable and mobile providers from selling your data without your consent.

Before Tuesday's the vote, representatives wanting to keep the rules stripped the debate down to something as mundane as buying underwear online, privately.

"I know there has got to be somebody in this body who believes [internet service providers] should not have anybody's underwear size," said Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minnesota.

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Internet Browsing Privacy at Center of Capitol Hill Fight 1:50


Related: As the Senate Moves In on Internet Privacy, How Can You Keep Your Searches Private?

With strong opposition from Democrats, the measure narrowly passed in the House by a 215-205 vote. No Democrats voted for the bill and 15 Republicans opposed it. A similar version squeaked through the Senate last Thursday on a party-line vote of 50-48.

The president's signature is all that is needed now to roll back the rules, making consumer data fair game for internet service providers. The White House said in a statement on Tuesday that Trump "strongly supports" the repeal.

CTIA, formerly the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, an advocacy group for the industry, applauded the measure's sponsors last week for "seeking a common-sense and harmonized approach to protecting Americans' privacy."

"Wireless carriers are committed to safeguarding consumer privacy, and we support regulatory clarity and uniformity across our digital economy," CTIA said in a statement.

But internet privacy advocates are framing this as a battle between privacy and profits.

Kate Tummarello, a policy analyst at the San Francisco based Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the "commonsense rules" Congress voted to repeal were designed "to protect your data" and keep internet service providers from doing a "host of creepy things" without your consent.

"Of course, the ISPs that stand to make money off of violating your privacy have been lobbying Congress to repeal those rules," she said in a statement before the vote. "Unfortunately, their anti-consumer push has been working."

The measure has also spawned a call to action from Data Does Good, a company that wants to empower people to leverage their data to help in the fight for online privacy rights.

The premise: Give Data Does Good your Amazon shopping history, which they say they'll automatically anonymize and pool with others before selling it to retailers.

Data Does Good will then donate $15 on your behalf to a non-profit of your choice that is fighting for privacy rights, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation or the ACLU.

NBC News is owned by Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable provider.

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security...ithout-n739166