New Internet bill overturns Obama-era policy

On April 3, President Donald Trump signed a bill that could allow Internet service providers (ISP) to sell the browsing history of their customers. The bill will overturn the Internet privacy policy put in place by Former President Barrack Obama that would have gone into effect October of this year.

The new bill was passed under the stance of creating an “equal playing field” between ISPs, such as AT&T, Comcast, Verizon and tech companies, such as Google and Facebook. Internet companies are allowed to use their consumer’s information without having to ask for permission. The consent of the browsing information is given to the provider by default because the individual is using their services. Under Obama’s Internet privacy policy, ISPs would not have been able to do the same without explicit permission.

            “This will allow service providers to be treated fairly and consumer protection and privacy concerns to be viewed on an equal playing field,” said White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer at a White House briefing April 6, after the bill was passed. “The president pledged to reverse this type of federal overreach, in which bureaucrats in Washington take the interest of one group of companies over the interest of others, picking the winners and losers.”

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates and sets the rules for public radio, television, satellite and cable broadcast in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia. ISPs fall under the jurisdiction of the FCC. It was the FCC regulations that the Internet privacy policy would have affected.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is used to prevent businesses from becoming deceiving or unfair to consumers or allowing businesses to monopolize. The new law allows ISPs to operate under the same guidelines as Internet companies.

Internet World Stats published a survey in March states that more than 68 percent of the United States actively uses the Internet. Pew Research Survey published a survey in September 2016 that revealed more than 50 percent of Internet users believe current laws are not good enough when it comes to protecting their privacy.

In response to concern about this new bill, Verizon, Comcast and AT&T have stated that they will not share their customers’ information.

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

“Verizon is fully committed to the privacy of our customers,” said Karen Zacharia, Verizon’s chief privacy officer. “We value the trust our customers have in us so protecting the privacy of customer information is a core priority for us.”

Pinpoints of the now defunct policy were: No blocking – ISP could not block a consumer from accessing a website or service. No throttling – No ISP can intentionally slow down your service. No paid prioritization – If an ISP does not pay a required fee, it will not be penalized.

The new bill disappoints the supporters of Obama’s Internet privacy policy.

            “The rules asked that when things were sensitive, an Internet service provider asked permission first before collecting; that’s not a lot to ask,” said Dallas Harris, a legal and policy fellow at Public Knowledge, on their website. “You can live without Google or Facebook, but it’s pretty difficult to walk away from Internet service altogether.”

Those in support of the new policy argue that the past policy was both unfair to provider companies and confusing.

“President Trump and Congress have appropriately invalidated one part of the Obama-era plan for regulating the Internet,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in a press release. “Those flawed privacy rules, which never went into effect, were designed to benefit one group of favored companies, not online consumers.”

Those who support the new bill are happy to see the Obama policy overturned.

“I honestly like the new policy!” said Josh Cruz, business major. “I really never liked how the FCC withheld companies to capitalize on their business… And besides, it’s only allowing the ISP’s to get a better idea of what advertisements you may like.”

Those who supported Obama’s Internet privacy act are less thrilled with the new bill.

“I don’t like the idea of people looking at my personal information or having access to sell it,” said Allie Potter, communication major.