President Donald Trump will soon decide if your internet provider will be able to sell your private internet usage data, and they don’t have to tell you they are doing it.
On Tuesday, the House passed the measure, following the Senate’s lead.
In essence, this reverses President Obama’s endorsed Federal Communications Commission rules supposed to take effect later this year, which would have required internet service providers to have your consent before they sold it.
It puts ISPs on a level playing field, so to speak, with edge providers, like Google and Facebook who already sell your information -they are regulated by the Federal Trade Commission.
Whether you use the internet to shop or look up medical information, internet providers, like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast will likely be allowed to sell that browsing information without you saying it’s okay.
No democrats voted to approve the bill, saying it’s an attack on privacy.
“I have a simple question: What the heck are you thinking? What is in your mind? Why would you want to give out any of our personal information to a faceless corporation for the sole purpose of them selling it?” Rep. Michael Capuano, a democrat from Massachusetts said.
All but 15 Republicans approved the bill, saying the law was government overreach.
“With all due respect, the internet was not broken and did not need the federal government to come in and try to fix it,” Rep. Steve Scalise, a republican from Louisiana said.
Alan Crowetz (www.infostream.cc), our internet security expert says it’s not time to panic, but a reminder to use caution with what you put online.
“There’s already a ton of data already out there about you, this is a small wedge of the pie that most people already know already. It’s just allowing internet providers to compete with the other firms who are already selling your data anyway.”
The White House, in a statement today said the president is expected to sign off on it when it gets to his desk.