President Trump signs bill to do away with internet privacy rule

The legislature to repeal the broadband privacy policy imposed by former president Obama has finally been signed. This isn’t a surprise as President Trump had earlier promised to do away with rules that stand in the way of innovation. This is a big win for internet service providers, but advocates for privacy are not happy with the situation.

The bill overturns a Federal Communications Commission ruling that made it mandatory for ISPs to get consumer consent before sharing or selling their personal info, browsing history etc. ISPs collect personal data from users as a matter of course; they also share or sell the info to advertisers. The FFCC ruling under the leadership of Tom Wheeler ensured that the consumers would be in control of their data. They couldn’t stop ISPs from collecting the data, however they could decide if the data was shared and if they consented then the service provider would have to keep them informed about who they are selling the information to. Republicans criticized the ruling saying it was biased and was giving an advantage to browsers, social media sites etc. that are free to sell the data they collect without obtaining any sort of permission.

The rule however never came into effect. A voting in the Senate saw a 50-48 voting in favor of the repeal and a voting on floor of Congress on March 28th saw 215 to 205 voting in favor of the repeal. So, it was only a matter of time before the repeal bill became a law. Right after the vote, leading internet service providers like Comcast, Verizon AT&T Inc said they don’t sell any data they collect and they would not do so voluntarily. Some companies like Sonic and Monkeybrains have even pledged to protect user data and never sell them. But privacy advocates say that such promises may be misleading.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai praised the repeal in a statement late on Monday for having “appropriately invalidated one part of the Obama-era plan for regulating the internet.” Those flawed privacy rules, which never went into effect, were designed to benefit one group of favored companies, not online consumers.”

(Writing by Ananya Dutta; Editing by Mohith Agadi)