By:Darien Campo
Designer

Tuesday, March 29th, Congress met to pass legislation that has sent the internet into an uproar.

In one of the last moves made under the Obama administration, the Federal Communications Commission issued a rule which gave internet users a greater amount of control over how Internet Service Providers share their information. Data, like browsing history, app usage and shopping trends could not be given away until the ISP asked users for permission to do so.

The House cast the final vote of 215-205 to reject the rule.

This rule, which had not yet actually gone into effect, only affected ISPs and not internet companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon – who are given permission to collect your information when you use their services and agree to their terms and conditions.

Rep. Michael Burgess, R-TX, argued that this gave an unfair advantage to unregulated internet companies and that rejecting the rule would, “… level the playing field for an increasingly anti-competitive market.”
Many users are outraged at the prospect of a company purchasing their private browsing information; when in reality it’s not individual’s browsing data they want, but the data trends of a large group of people – for marketing purposes.

As the Washington Post explains it, a marketer will ask a company like Facebook to advertise to a specific demographic, not individuals.

“The two companies will settle on a deal, and the marketer’s advertisements will be displayed on Facebook to that group, but the marketing company will never see specific information about those people,” explained Brian Fung of the Washington Post.

But many users and Democrat congress members fear that this gives ISPs too much power over private information.

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-CA, argued, “I don’t want anyone to take my information and sell it to someone and make a ton of money off of it just because they can get their mitts on it.”

Democrats argue that while companies like Google and Facebook are not regulated, users have a choice to not use those services, while most users have little or no choice over which ISP they get to use.

Some have taken it a step further. Max Temkin, creator of the popular game “Cards Against Humanity” has promised to, “… buy the browser history of every congressman and congressional aide and publish it,” if the repeal of the FCC rule is passed by President Trump.

But it may not actually work that way.

“It’s highly unlikely that you’re going to see [ISPs] actually parsing out individual’s data and selling it person by person,” said Gabriel Debenedetti, Politico reporter, before adding on, “… not that they couldn’t.”

However, not much has changed now for everyday users; the FCC’s rule never actually went into effect, so ISPs are still allowed to sell data just as they were before. If a user feels uncomfortable with their data being used this way, most sources recommend using a virtual private network.

As PCMag explains, “… a VPN creates a virtual encrypted ‘tunnel’ between you and a remote server operated by a VPN service.” This helps mask a user’s identity and keeps an ISP from seeing their data.

The bill now awaits a signature from President Trump, who is expected to pass it, though many groups are urging him to veto.

“President Trump now has the opportunity to veto this resolution and show he is not just a president for CEOs but for all Americans,” said Neema Singh Guliani, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.

Contact the author at journaldesigner@wou.edu