Senate Votes 50-48 To Allow ISPs To Sell Your Data

[Lucian Armasu]

The U.S. Senate voted 50-48 to eliminate the FCC's new privacy rules, which were supposed to go into effect soon. Killing these rules would mean that ISPs will be able to freely track your online behavior and then sell your data to advertisers.

Senate Votes 50-48 To Allow ISPs To Sell Your Data : Read more

 

[kenjitamura]

I hope the first data the ISP's start leaking are the browsing histories of the senators that voted for this bill.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Stupid politicians... We need to have a vote to get rid of THEM!

 

[ddpruitt]

With Trump in power the US is regressing a lot faster than I would have though possible.

 

[Jeff Fx]

Stupid politicians... We need to have a vote to get rid of THEM!

Stupid people voted these people into office, because they were told the party of corporate power and no consumer rights cares about the little guy. They were easily duped, now we all suffer for their poor critical-thinking skills.

This is great news for VPN providers, great news for corporations that want to exploit Internet users, and terrible news for the rest of us.

 

[brandonclone1]

If they plan to use browsing history for advertising, the porn industry is going to make a lot of money

 

[TomSummer]

I guess the crowd of 3 people that don't use either facebook or google are really upset.

But this no big deal... and you can just use a VPN.

 

[falchard]

It's not like they will be pulling specific pc data. They will just be looking at the meta data and selling it so companies know which direction to go. If there is an increasing interest in pot holders, companies will want to know before there is a supply shortage.

 

[TomSummer]

With Trump in power the US is regressing a lot faster than I would have though possible.

I'm so glad google and facebook didn't start selling information until Trump was in office.

 

[canadianvice]

@Tomsummer: Not a very accurate comparison.

The internet is fundamentally important and in many cases has been called a human right. One can easily abstain from Google and Facebook. Abstaining from connecting to the internet at all, however, is a tall order.

There is no equitability in negotiation here, if the ISPs sell this data (as they all will inevitably do) you have no option to pick an ISP that doesn't do it. You have to go without, and at that point, we hit on the first thing I mentioned.

 

[USAFRet]

Stupid politicians... We need to have a vote to get rid of THEM!

We do.
Every couple of years.

Interestingly, reelection rates for US congress hover around 90%.
What's wrong with this picture?

 

[toadhammer]

I guess the crowd of 3 people that don't use either facebook or google are really upset.

But this no big deal... and you can just use a VPN.

Here, let me fix that for you: "You can just pay money to regain part of your privacy."

Don't forget these same ISPs (Verizon!) are cutting services. Once upon a time, paying Verizon to be your ISP also bought you access to news groups, FTP hosting, email hosting, mailbox aliases, all sorts of things. Their fees go up, *and* you also have to pay someone else for the lost services.

 

[TomSummer]

@Tomsummer: Not a very accurate comparison.

The internet is fundamentally important and in many cases has been called a human right. One can easily abstain from Google and Facebook. Abstaining from connecting to the internet at all, however, is a tall order.

There is no equitability in negotiation here, if the ISPs sell this data (as they all will inevitably do) you have no option to pick an ISP that doesn't do it. You have to go without, and at that point, we hit on the first thing I mentioned.

People that think that the internet is a right don't understand what rights are. The problem with spoiled citizens of the first world variety, is that they often lack perspective to correctly use terms like "rights" in a sentence.

Google, facebook, TV, cars and the internet services are modern conveniences... They are not rights!

 

[maddogfargo]

Well...time to turn off my VPN and start searching for a lotta weird porn.

 

[TomSummer]

I guess the crowd of 3 people that don't use either facebook or google are really upset.

But this no big deal... and you can just use a VPN.

Here, let me fix that for you: "You can just pay money to regain part of your privacy."

Don't forget these same ISPs (Verizon!) are cutting services. Once upon a time, paying Verizon to be your ISP also bought you access to news groups, FTP hosting, email hosting, mailbox aliases, all sorts of things. Their fees go up, *and* you also have to pay someone else for the lost services.

Whine all you wish, but I like to pay ala carte for everything. I don't need FTP/mailbox aliases/newsgroups...

As a matter of fact my connectivity costs have come down now that all those commie bundles are disappearing.

 

[AlphaRAM01]

TOMSUMMER please elaborate

 

[Sasha-knows]

Unbelievable! I guess I'll play their game. Fake phone number, fake email, fake everything. Maybe trying to verify what's real will create more jobs. My Internet access isn't free. How can they do whatever they want with my information and charge me to give it to them?!!!! LOL! #gooffthegrid! PS: Someone said, if you voted for Trump, you deserve what you get!

 

[Aspiring techie]

I don't mind them seeing what I'm doing online. It's not as if I have anything to hide.

 

[WRXSTIGuy]

They are just voting along party lines. I doubt many of them even read the details on what they were voting for. They are getting paid for free.

 

[Guest]

Mmm, @Roger Wilco? You *are* voting for Federal offices every 2 years, right? Senators come up for election every 6 years, every state has 2, so in 3 election cycles, you'll get a chance to vote for each of the ones you've got or somebody else. If you're over 24, you must have had a chance to vote on each of yours, unless the the old one died and a temporary was appointed to fill the term.

 

[wtj]

Stupid politicians? You betcha!
Lucian Armasu's editor/publisher is just as stupid and complicit.
The links requesting us to contact our representatives give us our senator's phone numbers.
THE SENATE ALREADY VOTED as per the TITLE OF THIS ARTICLE!
If Tom's hardware wanted to do more than COLLECT OUR EMAIL ADDYS AND STREET ADDYS,
the links would have our Congress members phone numbers!!!!

 

[Giroro]

@TOMSUMMER

Last I checked, Americans have the fundamental right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Aside from the obvious fact that violating privacy violates liberty let's focus on life.
To live you need food water and shelter. This means you need money. Therefore you have a fundamental right to have a job, if you choose.

How does one get a job? They apply online, get called into an interview on the phone, and then they go in for a interview.

Therefore it follows that if you have the right to live, you have the right to access the tools that are necessarily to live - specifically communication and transportation.

Surely it wouldn't be acceptable if comcast used it's unlimited access to internet traffic to steal trade secrets from its competitors, or simply block them from the internet entirely? What if Verizon or AT&T decided to block citizens from calling their congressman to complain about it, or sold a list of the people complaining to a political party or foreign government?

 

[toadhammer]

@Tomsummer: Not a very accurate comparison.

The internet is fundamentally important and in many cases has been called a human right. One can easily abstain from Google and Facebook. Abstaining from connecting to the internet at all, however, is a tall order.

There is no equitability in negotiation here, if the ISPs sell this data (as they all will inevitably do) you have no option to pick an ISP that doesn't do it. You have to go without, and at that point, we hit on the first thing I mentioned.

People that think that the internet is a right don't understand what rights are. The problem with spoiled citizens of the first world variety, is that they often lack perspective to correctly use terms like "rights" in a sentence.

Google, facebook, TV, cars and the internet services are modern conveniences... They are not rights!

No, not human rights. Public utilities. Utilities range from those that should be rights to those that are merely convenient. Water and sewage are pretty necessary to your health and well being. Gas and electricity might be merely convenient, or necessity, depending on your climate. I personally find phones a burden partially imposed on me by others.

There have been times I've voluntarily lived without most of those. I'd hate to do so full time. It can be hard or impossible to hold job and feed a family when lacking some combination of these "first-world conveniences." The point of regulating public utilities is that they have the ability to hold you hostage, to coerce you in various ways, and they must not be allowed to do so.

 

[damric]

Thanks for sharing the link to the bill. The co-sponsors were the typical corporate butt hole lickers aka Turtleman McConnell and company.

 

[DookieDraws]

Sadly, there is no such thing as privacy anymore.