SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
New FCC Chairman Begins Attacks on Internet Privacy
Mar 02, 2017
Your Internet browsing just got a whole lot less secure.
Internet users won a significant victory last year when the FCC issued its Broadband Privacy Rules. As part of these rules, ISPs would be required to protect their customers' sensitive information. For instance, ISPs would need to take reasonable steps to protect Social Security numbers, financial information, health information, and Web browsing data against hackers. In the wake of major ISPs like Comcast suffering huge data breaches, this would clearly be sound policy--but Chairman Pai apparently disagrees. And of course, ISPs are gleeful about his decision because they'd prefer not to be scrutinized when they fail to properly protect your data.
Unfortunately, this isn't the worst of it.
Republicans in Congress are planning a much bigger assault on the Internet, by making it illegal for the FCC to protect consumer privacy online. With heavy support from the cable and telephone industry, they are hoping to use a rare and far reaching tool known as a Congressional Review Act resolution, which would not only completely eliminate all of the FCC's broadband privacy rules (not just the data security rule), it would prohibit the FCC from ever enacting any "substantially similar" privacy rules in the future. Because of the current regulatory landscape, the Federal Trade Commission is also barred from policing ISPs, leaving no federal cop on the beat to protect consumer privacy in this space.
In other words, ISPs would have carte blanche when it comes to rifling through, sharing, and selling your private data.
We need to act now to stop Pai and the ISP lobbyists in DC from dismantling these important privacy protections. The good news is we've done it before: by speaking out, Internet users all over the country sent a clear message to DC that we value net neutrality and privacy. Now we can do it again.
Tell your representatives in Congress that you will not accept their efforts to undermine your online privacy rights and that you expect the FCC to uphold its consumer privacy protections.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Peter Eckersley
Peter Eckersley is Technology Projects Director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Kate Tummarello
Kate Tummarello works on surveillance issues for EFF's Activism Team. Previously, she covered technology policy in Washington, D.C. including writing about privacy, net neutrality, internet governance, and intellectual property.
Jeremy Gillula
Jeremy Gillula is a Senior Staff Technologist for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Your Internet browsing just got a whole lot less secure.
Internet users won a significant victory last year when the FCC issued its Broadband Privacy Rules. As part of these rules, ISPs would be required to protect their customers' sensitive information. For instance, ISPs would need to take reasonable steps to protect Social Security numbers, financial information, health information, and Web browsing data against hackers. In the wake of major ISPs like Comcast suffering huge data breaches, this would clearly be sound policy--but Chairman Pai apparently disagrees. And of course, ISPs are gleeful about his decision because they'd prefer not to be scrutinized when they fail to properly protect your data.
Unfortunately, this isn't the worst of it.
Republicans in Congress are planning a much bigger assault on the Internet, by making it illegal for the FCC to protect consumer privacy online. With heavy support from the cable and telephone industry, they are hoping to use a rare and far reaching tool known as a Congressional Review Act resolution, which would not only completely eliminate all of the FCC's broadband privacy rules (not just the data security rule), it would prohibit the FCC from ever enacting any "substantially similar" privacy rules in the future. Because of the current regulatory landscape, the Federal Trade Commission is also barred from policing ISPs, leaving no federal cop on the beat to protect consumer privacy in this space.
In other words, ISPs would have carte blanche when it comes to rifling through, sharing, and selling your private data.
We need to act now to stop Pai and the ISP lobbyists in DC from dismantling these important privacy protections. The good news is we've done it before: by speaking out, Internet users all over the country sent a clear message to DC that we value net neutrality and privacy. Now we can do it again.
Tell your representatives in Congress that you will not accept their efforts to undermine your online privacy rights and that you expect the FCC to uphold its consumer privacy protections.
Peter Eckersley
Peter Eckersley is Technology Projects Director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Kate Tummarello
Kate Tummarello works on surveillance issues for EFF's Activism Team. Previously, she covered technology policy in Washington, D.C. including writing about privacy, net neutrality, internet governance, and intellectual property.
Jeremy Gillula
Jeremy Gillula is a Senior Staff Technologist for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Your Internet browsing just got a whole lot less secure.
Internet users won a significant victory last year when the FCC issued its Broadband Privacy Rules. As part of these rules, ISPs would be required to protect their customers' sensitive information. For instance, ISPs would need to take reasonable steps to protect Social Security numbers, financial information, health information, and Web browsing data against hackers. In the wake of major ISPs like Comcast suffering huge data breaches, this would clearly be sound policy--but Chairman Pai apparently disagrees. And of course, ISPs are gleeful about his decision because they'd prefer not to be scrutinized when they fail to properly protect your data.
Unfortunately, this isn't the worst of it.
Republicans in Congress are planning a much bigger assault on the Internet, by making it illegal for the FCC to protect consumer privacy online. With heavy support from the cable and telephone industry, they are hoping to use a rare and far reaching tool known as a Congressional Review Act resolution, which would not only completely eliminate all of the FCC's broadband privacy rules (not just the data security rule), it would prohibit the FCC from ever enacting any "substantially similar" privacy rules in the future. Because of the current regulatory landscape, the Federal Trade Commission is also barred from policing ISPs, leaving no federal cop on the beat to protect consumer privacy in this space.
In other words, ISPs would have carte blanche when it comes to rifling through, sharing, and selling your private data.
We need to act now to stop Pai and the ISP lobbyists in DC from dismantling these important privacy protections. The good news is we've done it before: by speaking out, Internet users all over the country sent a clear message to DC that we value net neutrality and privacy. Now we can do it again.
Tell your representatives in Congress that you will not accept their efforts to undermine your online privacy rights and that you expect the FCC to uphold its consumer privacy protections.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.