Friday, March 24th 2017
Invading Subscriber Privacy - Senate Says ISPs Can Now Sell Your Data
The US Senate on Thursday passed a joint resolution to eliminate broadband privacy rules that would have required ISPs to get consumers' explicit consent before selling or sharing Web browsing data and other private information with advertisers and other companies. This win was pulled by a hair - 48 Nay against 50 Yea - and went entirely through party lines, with Republicans voting Yea, and the Democrats voting Nay. The effects won't be immediate, mind you - the measure will have to pass the House and then be signed by President Donald Trump before it can become law.
The FCC's privacy rules that are now put in peril would require ISPs to get opt-in consent from consumers before selling or sharing personal information. This includes geo-location data, financial and health information, children's information, Social Security numbers, Web browsing history, app usage history, and the content of communications - things we can all agree give almost unthinkable leeway in understanding your daily habits. Opt-out requirements, on the other hand, would have applied to less sensitive data such as e-mail addresses and service tier information, much less important in the scheme of things.
These opt-in and opt-out provisions were to take effect as early as December 4, 2017. The rules would also force ISPs to clearly notify customers about the types of information they collected, specifying how they use and share the information, and identifying the types of entities they'd share the information with.
The FCC's privacy rules also had a data security component that would have required ISPs to take "reasonable" steps to protect customers' information from theft and data breaches. This was supposed to take effect on March 2, but the FCC's Republican majority halted the rule's implementation. Another set of requirements related to data breach notifications is scheduled to take effect on June 2.
As was to be expected, party lines didn't fracture only on the Senate floor, with comments and positions regarding the voting separating cleanly in all other areas.
Ajit Pai, the new chairman of the newly Republican-led FCC, welcomed the Senate vote, telling reporters that his own core goal was "to make sure that uniform expectation of privacy is vindicated through the use of a regulatory framework that establishes a more level playing field."
Senator Bill Nelson, on the other hand, said during Senate floor debate that "Your home broadband provider can know when you wake up each day-either by knowing the time each morning that you log on to the Internet to check the weather/news of the morning, or through a connected device in your home (...) and that provider may know immediately if you are not feeling well - assuming you decide to peruse the Internet like most of us to get a quick check on your symptoms. In fact, your broadband provider may know more about your health - and your reaction to illness - than you are willing to share with your doctor."
Home Internet providers can also "build a profile about your listening and viewing habits." Mobile broadband providers, on the other hand, "know how you move about your day through information about your geo-location and Internet activity through your mobile device," Senator Bill Nelson said.
"This is a gold mine of data-the holy grail so to speak," Nelson said. "It is no wonder that broadband providers want to be able to sell this information to the highest bidder without consumers' knowledge or consent. And they want to collect and use this information without providing transparency or being held accountable."
This measure also ties the FCC's hands in advancing "substantially similar" rules in the future. Kate Tummarello, a policy analyst for the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), pits this as a "crushing loss for online privacy."
"ISPs act as gatekeepers to the Internet, giving them incredible access to records of what you do online," Tummarello said. "They shouldn't be able to profit off of the information about what you search for, read about, purchase and more without your consent."
What is your opinion on this matter? is this the way you envision your connected life?
Sources:
NBC News, Ars Technica, Senate.gov
These opt-in and opt-out provisions were to take effect as early as December 4, 2017. The rules would also force ISPs to clearly notify customers about the types of information they collected, specifying how they use and share the information, and identifying the types of entities they'd share the information with.
The FCC's privacy rules also had a data security component that would have required ISPs to take "reasonable" steps to protect customers' information from theft and data breaches. This was supposed to take effect on March 2, but the FCC's Republican majority halted the rule's implementation. Another set of requirements related to data breach notifications is scheduled to take effect on June 2.
As was to be expected, party lines didn't fracture only on the Senate floor, with comments and positions regarding the voting separating cleanly in all other areas.
Ajit Pai, the new chairman of the newly Republican-led FCC, welcomed the Senate vote, telling reporters that his own core goal was "to make sure that uniform expectation of privacy is vindicated through the use of a regulatory framework that establishes a more level playing field."
Senator Bill Nelson, on the other hand, said during Senate floor debate that "Your home broadband provider can know when you wake up each day-either by knowing the time each morning that you log on to the Internet to check the weather/news of the morning, or through a connected device in your home (...) and that provider may know immediately if you are not feeling well - assuming you decide to peruse the Internet like most of us to get a quick check on your symptoms. In fact, your broadband provider may know more about your health - and your reaction to illness - than you are willing to share with your doctor."
Home Internet providers can also "build a profile about your listening and viewing habits." Mobile broadband providers, on the other hand, "know how you move about your day through information about your geo-location and Internet activity through your mobile device," Senator Bill Nelson said.
"This is a gold mine of data-the holy grail so to speak," Nelson said. "It is no wonder that broadband providers want to be able to sell this information to the highest bidder without consumers' knowledge or consent. And they want to collect and use this information without providing transparency or being held accountable."
This measure also ties the FCC's hands in advancing "substantially similar" rules in the future. Kate Tummarello, a policy analyst for the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), pits this as a "crushing loss for online privacy."
"ISPs act as gatekeepers to the Internet, giving them incredible access to records of what you do online," Tummarello said. "They shouldn't be able to profit off of the information about what you search for, read about, purchase and more without your consent."
What is your opinion on this matter? is this the way you envision your connected life?
109 Comments on Invading Subscriber Privacy - Senate Says ISPs Can Now Sell Your Data
Sorry, if my sentence structure is bad as English is not my forte.
The "knowledge is power" is an overused generalization - hardly followed by any precise example...
The only thing that a company wants is to sell you their products. As much as manipulative they might be, there is hardly any harm possible. You can always say "no".
How can you even compare this to governments and say that they can be "held accountable by the people"? :o Have you ever heard about a phenomenon called dictatorship?
Leaving extreme cases aside, even a fairly sensible government can be a threat to your security or lifestyle - simply because you're not their "target" audience (voter).
A government can do a lot more than sell you something. They can actually harm you. They can be unpredictable and irrational.
By comparison, a company is just a pleasure to work with.
Just live on. I have matters around me that need more attention than what may or may not happen in some future.
And it is as if you have any real control. Those politicians play by partyline. I don't think they act on their own beliefs. You can vote to have a stake in who gets elected but does it matter?
Again, they play by partyline.
That distinction matters to me as I'm ok with being safe.
ISP should at least have to have consent imho since it's profit based.
In fact I'm pretty sure large corporations are better defended than public administration in general.
In case of companies you're at least informed, when giving your data, who can use them. If it is passed further, you are protected by law and can sue someone.
Government has a lot of your personal details already and everything can be accessed by thousands of people - some in very rural, hard to control places.
If I was running a mob and wanted to gather information about someone, I would not even think about hacking a company. I would simply bribe someone in tax/revenue agency - they tend to know the most. And you know what? I think mobsters are intelligent enough to get the same idea, so they most likely did.
Moreover, I think your approach is heavily biased because you live in US - a very specific country. US government officially knows fairly little about its citizens. You don't even have an ID, which means that formally your country doesn't even know how many Americans there are.
That's exactly why it's such a big thing now that FBI wants to get access to some client databases.
Outside of US it's usually the government who knows the most about you.
The one thing in this is the ability to sell US residents social security numbers. That can, and if it is true and passed, will likely lead to massive identity theft.
People thought that this party deserved another chance. This, IMO, will be their last chance as they are likely to get trounced in the next congressional and presidential elections. Hillary was an angel in comparison to what these clowns are doing to our country.
@Raevenlord shame on you. In a tech news article, how the measure passed is of no consequence: There was no reason to mention a party line vote. All that is going to do is cause people to come in here and go off on political tangents and arguments as we are already seeing.
If you are doing this to increase site visits, it is disgraceful. TPU will have a lot more long term credibility in the tech world by NOT constantly engaging in and encouraging political arguments. Raevenlord is now seeming to make a habit out of posting opinions on U.S. politics. I simply cannot believe @W1zzard condones this type of action which only serves to draw TPU into the gutter.
Edit: and as predicted, just read the shit from both sides below.:rolleyes:
It will accomplish just the same.
The users of technology and the internet, we who post here on TPU and other sites, need to know this because this could result in identity theft that would then cost any one of we who post on TPU or elsewhere thousands of dollars to get out from under such a pall.
Unfortunately, technology policies like this are decided in government, and do affect technology users. For any of we who post on TPU, it is unfortunate that politics has devolved into the state that it is since there is little room for civil discussion any more. What it will take is those who supported those in power experiencing first-hand the troubles that a policy like this could wreak on them, and understanding that this kind of policy does not, as I previously said, represent the average american citizen - IOTW - the little guy.
Whether these kinds of posts are toxic are not depends on the viewpoint, and I, for one, am happy to be informed on this matter since it empowers me to vastly limit the personal information that I give in the future to any ISP. For instance, all US citizens signing up for with an ISP for service should know that they are well within their rights to refuse to give an ISP, and most other commercial firms for that matter, a social security number for anything.
twitter.com/EFF/status/845622547026628610
Intelligence is collected cuz they can and get away with it.
They gonna need a bigger hard drive...
Hackers will buy sensitive info and use it against you (passwords, blackmail...)
In the end, it all comes down to porn.
And Im expecting increase in use of cryptography.. everywhere. Its not that hard with today HW anyway. Time to use some very secure VPNs..
Btw. aint that kinda against constitution?
I think people will get scared if they knew what google already knows about them ... so yeah, our lives were invaded much earlier than this.
Her name is also spelled Hillary.
You don't care what happens to the world, because you have more immediate concerns?
Guess what? Things far away tends to come closer, usually a lot faster than you thought.
It might not be your problem today, but odds are that it will be tomorrow.
ISP sorts all info from ALL users (ALL) ALL companies with a reason (ALL) will buy into these information if it enable them to make better qualified and fruitful bussiness decisions.
cases:
1. X want to borrow money but bank wont because they can see that he uses statistically to much on steam / _W_. His loan gets rejected.
2. A company checks the people that they are hirings porn fetishes before hiring them, sorting out anyone else that missionarylovers, because "we cant risk it"- bla bla bla (expect this to become standard in larger cooperations.)
3. People will get the most intense targeted advertising ever seen through EVER surface of the internet, whether its bad or good.
4. Expect these information to be purcasable by private persons as well; Your ex girlfriend (or current) will be able to buy and see what you did on the internet in the period your where together. Potentially be able to see who you talked with and when. (not stalkers paradise at all...)
5. People; scammers, terrorists, / WHOEVER wants to obtain knowledge about a person will be somewhat able. Depening on the level of information, location, time, url, etc will be trackable and open to who ever have money to pay.
All of the above is already done in shady legalarea's; this law straight up legitimizes full on survailance of EVEYONE by EVERYONE.
But sure we got nothing to hide..., lets do it!
In regard to the dude that lives in canada and thinks that "his" internet does not come into contact with USA's; you got some reading up to do! (EVERYTHING can get authorized as going through a US ISP if they want :) ) I know USA basically uses that "twist" to spy on people from EU (legally), so its not even the future, but this law gives this opportunity to anyone.
Let's all commit suicide. Why bother?
Yeee, the Senate passed a privacy invading law, we are doomed.