Congress Repeals Obama-era Internet Privacy Law

Congress repealed an Obama-era internet privacy law last week,
before it had a chance to go into effect. This week, President
Donald Trump signed the repeal into law.
Photo: Shutterstock

Late in October of 2016, Congress passed a bill designed to protect the privacy of internet users. That bill was set to take effect toward the end of 2017, and would prevent internet service providers (ISPs) from sharing things like “precise geo-location, financial information, health information, children’s information, Social Security numbers, web browsing history, app usage history, and the content of communications” without getting clear permission from customers.

However, Congress repealed that law during the last week of March, and President Donald Trump signed the repeal bill into law on April 3, 2017. Companies like Verizon, Comcast, and AT&T have argued that the law created an unfair playing field that punished them while not affecting companies like Google and Facebook, which collect data but do not provide internet service.

This argument has been backed up by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who maintains that the old law was designed to favor some companies over others.

“President Trump and Congress have appropriately invalidated one part of the Obama-era plan for regulating the internet,” Pai, who was appointed by Trump, said in a statement. “Those flawed privacy rules, which never went into effect, were designed to benefit one group of favored companies, not online consumers.”

>Internet rights and privacy groups like Fight for the Future are upset at the news. Many organizations fought long and hard for improved privacy for internet users, who have long had their private information sold to third parties.

“Congress proved once again that they care more about the wishes of the corporations that fund their campaigns than they do about the safety and security of their constituents,” Evan Greer, campaign director for Fight for the Future, said last week. “People from across the political spectrum are outraged, and every lawmaker who votes to take away our privacy will regret it come election day.”

Others are also upset with technology companies that refrained for commenting on the issue in the lead-up to the vote. They point out a trend of companies that would benefit from such actions, and from having less stringent privacy laws to deal with, keeping quiet on the issue. They see these companies as unwilling to draw attention to themselves, for fear of having to face further regulation.

While the FCC has declared that it will work with the Federal Trade Commission in order to “ensure that consumers’ online privacy is protected through a consistent and comprehensive framework,” it is unclear what such plans would entail.