Things are not going well across the pond. First, the Donald Trump administration blew up the Clean Power Plan, ignoring everything that has been said and demonstrated about climate change. Now, it's the turn of web privacy. With a vote of 215 to 205, the House of Representatives approved the elimination of the so-called 'privacy rules' for internet providers, giving the green light to the commercial use of personal data and browsing histories without prior authorization from customers.
A Blow to Privacy Rules
I generally have no reason to dive into the political situation of the United States, because at the end of the day everyone has to deal with what they voted for (or not, remember it's not mandatory there) and put up a fight using the resources democracy allows. However, it's clear that the new government is leaving no stone unturned in an attempt to minimize or uproot all decisions made by Barack Obama. One of those stones is the FCC, now under Republican control with Ajit Pai at the helm, a former Verizon executive determined to end net neutrality and benefit his old employers. Last October, when the FCC was led by Tom Wheeler with a Democratic majority, a set of 'privacy rules' for internet providers was created, requiring them to obtain explicit authorization from customers before selling personal data and browsing histories to advertising platforms (and other interested parties). Yesterday, those rules disappeared.
With a vote of 215 to 205, the House approved the elimination of the privacy rules, following the decision made by the Senate last week, in that case by a 50 to 48 margin. Republicans defended the measure on two fronts: first, with the view that providers should be regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), not the FCC. Second, by suggesting that the rules 'generated confusion' and established 'a framework of unfair competition' against content providers like social networks and search engines, ignoring the enormous differences between a content provider and a connectivity provider. If that seems like little, the rules were not even scheduled to go into effect until December 7, but the Republican bloc (certainly greased by lobbying dollars) decided to eliminate them now.
The most compelling example of the danger of this free rein for providers came from Representative Michael Capuano (Democrat, Massachusetts), when he invited Republicans to give 'a good reason' why 'Comcast should know about the health problems' of his mother. Nancy Pelosi (Democrat, California), current leader of the Democratic minority in the House, reminded that the 'private modes' of browsers won't help at all.
Part of the Republican strategy (FTC intervention) aims to eliminate the 'common carrier' status, and by extension, net neutrality on US soil. This could open the door to concepts like 'fast lanes', or to providers simply asking for more money in exchange for preserving their customers' privacy. All the House decision needs is President Trump's signature, almost guaranteed at this point. Something tells me the demand for VPN services is about to shoot up in the United States...
Source: Ars Technica
