{"id":74903,"date":"2019-04-08T10:34:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T10:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essays.homeworkacetutors.com\/trumps-repeal-of-broadband-internet-privacy-rules\/"},"modified":"2019-04-08T10:34:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T10:34:00","slug":"trumps-repeal-of-broadband-internet-privacy-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colapapers.com\/us\/trumps-repeal-of-broadband-internet-privacy-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Repeal of Broadband Internet Privacy Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

On April 3rd, 2017, President Trump signed a repeal of broadband internet privacy<\/a> rules put in place during Obama\u2019s last year in office. The repeal is considered a major setback for privacy advocates and a victory for internet service providers (ISPs) such as Comcast, Centurylink, and Verizon. The rules would have placed limitations on how ISPs could gather and distribute user\u2019s sensitive data. The FCC outlined exactly what sensitive information is and includes: Precise Geo-location,Web browsing history, Social Security Numbers, The content of communications, Children\u2019s information, Financial information. Activities conducted on the web in the privacy of one\u2019s own home is now available for purchase. Large telecom companies like AT&T argued that getting consumers\u2019 permission to use their personal data would create significant harm to the ISPs (Brodkin). The Trump administration agreed. ISP\u2019s have monopolies in most markets leaving consumers little options if they disagree with the ISP\u2019s privacy policy. If the FCC is unwilling to address ISPs unilateral infringement on it\u2019s citizen personal privacy then States should enact legislation allowing consumers to pilot how personal information is used and what is bought and sold by third parties.<\/p>\n

Legislators in Minnesota and Washington have taken the lead
\nby introducing legislation ensuring that ISPs acquire consent from customers
\nbefore gathering and selling sensitive data. \u201cYour internet access provider shouldn\u2019t be able to sell
\nyour private information like your browsing history to the highest bidder,\u201d
\nsaid state Rep. Drew Hansen of\u00a0 the
\nWashington State House. \u201cIf Congress isn\u2019t willing to stop that from happening,
\nthen we in Washington state are absolutely going to act to protect our privacy\u201d
\n(Qtd in Orenstein).<\/p>\n

Before this legislation reaching Trump\u2019s desk, a temporary
\nstay had already been placed on implementing the rules by, Ajit Pai, the new
\nhead of the Federal Communications Commission.\u00a0
\nThis stay and subsequent repeal of the Obama-era privacy laws were the
\nculmination of years of disagreement and lobbying over how ISPs should be
\nclassified and regulated. <\/p>\n

Major points of contention exist regarding which
\nadministrative agency should have oversight over ISPs and how they should be
\ndefined under federal law. Unlike websites like Facebook and Google, which are
\nregulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), ISPs are considered common
\ncarriers and are governed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).\u00a0 The FCC, under Obama, reclassified ISPs as
\n\u201ccommon carriers\u201d in 2015, thus treating them like other utilities. The Obama
\nadministration justified this reclassification by arguing that ISPs are the
\n\u201con-ramp\u201d to the Internet (FCC Fact Sheet). Not only do ISPs have access to
\nthings that consumers may voluntarily share over the web, but they have access
\nto other information, notably browsing history and patterns, in which consumers
\nmay have a reasonable expectation of privacy. The FCC rules were designed to
\nprotect sensitive customer information from dissemination to third parties
\nwithout the user\u2019s consent. <\/p>\n

The FCC reclassified ISPs to enforce net neutrality rules,
\nwhich require ISPs to act as neutral gateways to the internet (Morrison). This
\nclassification also recognizes the importance of ISPs as providers of public
\ngoods, and therefore subject to regulation by the FCC.\u00a0 The FCC fact sheet regarding broadband
\nprivacy rules states that the FCC has had decades of experience in protecting
\nconsumers\u2019 privacy rights.<\/p>\n

In contrast, the FTC is primarily concerned with regulating
\n\u201cunfair or deceptive acts or practices\u201d (Gellman).\u00a0 They are not overly concerned with privacy
\nrights.\u00a0 The FTC is regarded as a weaker
\nagency in terms of enforcement than the FCC in general, due to its limited
\njurisdiction and the smaller scope of its regulatory mandate (Gellman). The
\nISPs would like to be under the purview of the FTC, rather than the FCC. The
\nnew Trump-appointed heads of these agencies agree.<\/p>\n

Ajit Pai, Chairman of the FCC, and Maureen Ohlhausen, acting Chair of the FTC, issued a joint statement in early March indicating that the agencies wanted to create \u201ca comprehensive and consistent framework\u201d that applies both to ISPs and websites (Brodkin). Further, the two helpfully noted that different privacy rules for ISPs and websites would confuse consumers. The joint statement continued, \u201cAmericans care about the overall privacy of their information when they use the Internet, and they shouldn\u2019t have to be lawyers or engineers to figure out if their information is protected differently depending on which part of the Internet holds it\u201d (Gellman). <\/p>\n

This temporary stay of Obama\u2019s privacy regulations was issued on March 1, 2017.\u00a0 It was made permanent by Trump\u2019s signing of repeal of broadband privacy rules on April 3, 2017, and put a halt to the Obama administration\u2019s attempt to protect consumers\u2019 privacy.<\/p>\n

In October 2016, the FCC promulgated rules that would
\nrequire ISPs to obtain users\u2019 permission to use and share their personal
\ninformation. Before the establishment of this regulation, there were no
\nguidelines in place regarding how ISPs could take advantage of consumer
\ninformation, including children\u2019s consumer information. The FCC\u2019s rules,
\naccording to the agency, were not intended to prevent ISPs from using consumer
\ninformation, but rather, to give users a voice in how the information was used
\nin marketing and whether or not it was sold to third parties. However, the
\nTrump administration saw the rules differently.<\/p>\n

The newly appointed members of the FCC under Trump found
\nthat the Obama-era rules would create significant compliance costs for the
\nISPs, although no concrete evidence was provided by the committee to support
\nthis contention. USTelcom, a lobbying group representing AT&T, Verizon, and
\nother large telecoms, agreed and stated that they looked forward to the
\ngovernment developing \u201ca uniform, consumer-focused approach to
\nprivacy\u201d (Brodkin). The ISPs main argument was that they should not be
\ntreated differently from websites like Facebook on safeguarding users\u2019 privacy.
\nSo many consumers were concerned with this repeal that Gerard Lewis, the chief
\nprivacy officer of Comcast stated, \u201cWe do not sell our broadband customers\u2019
\nindividual web browsing history. We did not do it before the FCC\u2019s rules were
\nadopted, and we have no plans to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, some argue that now that the FCC rules have been
\nrevoked, no agency is regulating the ISPs, and the ISPs are subject to fewer
\nregulations than websites (Brodkin). The FCC is not likely to promulgate new
\nrules soon, as Chairman Pai has indicated that he favors a hands-off approach
\ntowards regulating ISPs and telecoms.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Although the Trump administration has argued that the
\nrevocation of the privacy rules will not have a large or detrimental impact on
\nconsumers, privacy advocates disagree.\u00a0
\nMostly the rules would have allowed consumers to \u201copt-in\u201d to any
\nmarketing, data mining, or data sharing policies of the ISP.\u00a0 Revocation of these rules preserves the
\nstatus quo, which instead requires consumers to affirmatively \u201copt-out\u201d of any
\ndata collection by the ISP. This puts the onus of keeping one\u2019s private
\ninformation private on the consumer, rather than on the entity that wishes to
\nprofit from this information.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration is just maintaining the status quo.
\nCritics of the regulations felt that they created unnecessary roadblocks to the
\nunfettered development of the internet, and placed unfair burdens on ISPs.\u00a0 However, supporters of the rules note that
\nthe web is a public good and the government has a right to protect its citizens
\nwhen they are using this public good. Further, they argue that the regulations
\ndo not harm the ISPs and do not prevent them from collecting any data they
\nwish, they must simply get their consumers\u2019 permission first.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Works Cited <\/h2>\n
    \n
  • Orenstein, Walker,\u201cPrefer Privacy as You Surf the Web? Bills Want Providers to Ask Before Selling Data.\u201d The New Tribune<\/em>, 4 April 2017. http:\/\/www.thenewstribune.com\/news \/politics-government\/article142571264.html<\/li>\n
  • United States, Federal Communications Commission, Fact Sheet: The FCC Adopts Order to Give Broadband Consumers Increased Choice Over Their Personal Information<\/em>, March 2016, https:\/\/apps.fcc.gov\/edocs_public\/attachmatch\/DOC-341938A1.pdf<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    On April 3rd, 2017, President Trump signed a repeal of broadband internet privacy rules put in place during Obama\u2019s last year in office. The repeal is considered a major setback for privacy advocates and a victory for internet service providers (ISPs) such as Comcast, Centurylink, and Verizon. The rules would have placed limitations on how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5805],"tags":[9845,5294,9887,9867,9888,9889,9890,9886,9885],"class_list":["post-74903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-1-dissertation-writing-service-in-uk","tag-bishops-writing-bureau","tag-cn","tag-create-a-paper-using-the-following-criteria","tag-homework-help-assignment-answers","tag-in-1050-word-essay","tag-in-a-4-to-6-page-essay","tag-in-a-page-paper-assignment","tag-write-an-essay-in-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colapapers.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colapapers.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colapapers.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colapapers.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colapapers.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.colapapers.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74903\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colapapers.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colapapers.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colapapers.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}