Broadband Privacy Redux

 

After the Trump Congress invoked rarely-used Congressional Review Authority (CRA) to revoke enormously popular broadband privacy rules that required opt-in consent for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to sell user search and browser data, revolt broke out.

20 different states moved to reinstate online privacy protections including California where Assemblymember Ed Chau introduced AB375 to the CA Legislature in June.

CalBIPA Support Coalition Letter

Media Alliance – Letter of Suppport AB 375

Media Alliance Letter of Support – AB 375 – Judiciary

And in DC, a flood of legislation from both Democrats and Republicans was proposed.

In this letter from 10 prominent consumer groups, we attempt to separate the wheat from the chaff and identify the various proposals and what is beneficial in all of them – and what constitutes deceptive posturing by legislators worried their actions will backfire.

FCC-coalition-letter_June-29-2017-corrected

Center for Democracy and Technology

And as an amusing aside, the abrupt revocation of the broadband privacy rules appear to have stripped jurisdiction for addressing robocalls and caused US Telecom to suddenly appeal to the FCC to do something, anything, about the robocall problem in the sudden absence of rules.

USTelecom-Blocking-Comments-2016-07-03-FINAL