The US House of Representatives has voted to repeal the FCC’s broadband privacy rules, following a similar vote the week before by the Senate, Reuters reported. The White House said on 28 March that President Donald Trump strongly supports the repeal of the rules, approved by the FCC in October and set to go into effect in March. The FCC earlier this month delayed the data rules from taking effect. Under the rules, internet providers would need to obtain consumer consent before using precise geolocation, financial information, health information, children's information and web browsing history for advertising and marketing.
The White House in its statement noted that under the rules, ISPs would need to obtain affirmative "opt-in" consent from consumers to use and share certain information, but noted that websites are not required to get the same consent. "This results in rules that apply very different regulatory regimes based on the identity of the online actor," the White House said. Websites are governed by a less restrictive set of privacy rules overseen by the Federal Trade Commission. FCC chairman Ajit Pai praised the decision of Congress to overturn "privacy regulations designed to benefit one group of favored companies over another group of disfavored companies." Last week, Pai said consumers would have privacy protections even without the internet provider rules. Critics have said these will be weaker.
The votes are a win for AT&T, Comcast and Verizon Communications, who are glad to be free of the regulatory burden. The American Civil Liberties Union, which opposes the measure, said companies "should not be able to use and sell the sensitive data they collect from you without your permission." An Internet & Television Association statement called the repeal "an important step toward restoring consumer privacy protections that apply consistently." The Free Press advocacy group said major Silicon Valley companies shied away from the fight over the rules because they profit from consumer data.
US industry groups USTelecom and the American Cable Association (ACA) said they were pleased with the vote.
