Thread: Your browsing history for sale? White House won’t comment on Trump’s intent to sign

Your browsing history for sale? White House won’t comment on Trump’s intent to sign bill eroding Internet privacy rules

Hunter Walker National Correspondent
Yahoo News March 29, 2017
Comment

WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Sean Spicer indicated President Trump plans to sign a bill that would wipe out some of the Federal Communications Commission’s Internet privacy protections, but declined to discuss the reasons for supporting the legislation at his daily briefing on Wednesday. The legislation, which was sent to Trump by Congress on Tuesday, would eliminate protections that barred Internet service providers from monitoring their customers’ behavior online and selling that information, which could include browsing history, use of apps, Social Security numbers and location information.

Yahoo News asked Spicer if Trump plans to sign the bill and whether the president thinks it benefits anyone other than Internet companies and executives. Spicer pointed to a statement of administration policy issued by the White House on Tuesday that said Trump “strongly supports” the bill, but he declined to comment further.

“The House and Senate have just passed that. When they enroll it, then we will have further updates on that,” Spicer said of the legislation, adding, “I believe we have a statement of administration policy on that bill out, and when we have further updates on a signing ceremony, I will let you know.”

The protections affected by the bill were adopted by the FCC last October and were set to take effect at the end of this year. Republican FCC commissioners opposed the regulations, which were supported by online privacy advocates. The bill to eliminate the safeguards passed both the House and Senate on party-line votes.

Yahoo News pressed Spicer and asked whether the White House is concerned that allowing this personal information to be collected and sold could create a risk of the data being used for “nefarious purposes,” including “hostile nations potentially looking at … what congressmen are browsing online.” Spicer repeated that the administration supports the bill and declined to answer further.

“As I mentioned, we have a statement of administration policy on that bill,” said Spicer. “We will have further updates and, when we do sign it, I’m sure we’ll have further details on why.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/your-brow...181117390.html

Senate Votes to Let ISPs Sell Your Data Without Consent


House Votes in Favor of Letting ISPs Sell Your Browsing History

Wow this is some sick crap! Shame on every lawmaker, including Trump if he signs it, that supports the selling of everyone's online behavior information.

W

Isn't it a little odd that the Trump administration won't tell us why he supports this ludicrous law before signing it? How ironic, he's concerned about his own privacy but wants to weaken our privacy to benefit the corporate world!

This is why so many Democrats hate Republicans these days. They refuse to pass the bill to fix Obamacare but boy oh boy they'll sell US out on the internet in a DC Second. I really hope Trump decides to veto this bill. It should be vetoed.

Originally Posted by Judy

This is why so many Democrats hate Republicans these days. They refuse to pass the bill to fix Obamacare but boy oh boy they'll sell US out on the internet in a DC Second. I really hope Trump decides to veto this bill. It should be vetoed.

We have to admit there are no Democrats and no Republicans. They are all on the same team - and it's not our team.

This is just another of the many things this last election brought to light.

Fri Mar 31, 2017 | 3:09pm EDT

Major internet providers say will not sell customer browsing histories

By David Shepardson | WASHINGTON

Comcast Corp, Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc said Friday they would not sell customers’ individual internet browsing information, days after the U.S. Congress approved legislation reversing Obama administration era internet privacy rules.

The bill would repeal regulations adopted in October by the Federal Communications Commission under former President Barack Obama requiring internet service providers to do more to protect customers' privacy than websites like Alphabet Inc's Google or Facebook Inc.

The easing of restrictions has sparked growing anger on social media sites.

"We do not sell our broadband customers’ individual web browsing history. We did not do it before the FCC’s rules were adopted, and we have no plans to do so," said Gerard Lewis, Comcast's chief privacy officer.

He added Comcast is revising its privacy policy to make more clear that "we do not sell our customers’ individual web browsing information to third parties."

Verizon does not sell personal web browsing histories and has no plans to do so in the future, said spokesman Richard Young.

Verizon privacy officer Karen Zacharia said in a blog post Friday the company has two programs that use customer browsing data. One allows marketers to access "de-identified information to determine which customers fit into groups that advertisers are trying to reach" while the other "provides aggregate insights that might be useful for advertisers and other businesses."

Republicans in Congress Tuesday narrowly passed the repeal of the rules with no Democratic support and over the objections of privacy advocates.

The vote was a win for internet providers such as AT&T Inc, Comcast and Verizon. Websites are governed by a less restrictive set of privacy rules.

The White House said Wednesday that President Donald Trump plans to sign the repeal of the rules, which had not taken effect.

Under the rules, internet providers would have needed to obtain consumer consent before using precise geolocation, financial information, health information, children's information and web browsing history for advertising and marketing. Websites do not need the same affirmative consent.

Some in Congress suggested providers would begin selling personal data to the highest bidder, while others vowed to raise money to buy browsing histories of Republicans.

AT&T says in its privacy statement it "will not sell your personal information to anyone, for any purpose. Period." In a blog post Friday, AT&T said it would not change those policies after Trump signs the repeal.

Websites and internet service providers do use and sell aggregated customer data to advertisers. Republicans say the rules unfairly would give websites the ability to harvest more data than internet providers.

Trade group USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter said in an op-ed Friday for website Axios that individual "browser history is already being aggregated and sold to advertising networks - by virtually every site you visit on the internet."

This week, 46 Senate Democrats urged Trump not to sign the bill, arguing most Americans "believe that their private information should be just that."

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-us...-idUSKBN1722D6

Trump signs repeal of U.S. broadband privacy rules