Congressman Tim Ryan today voted against S.J.Res. 34, which overturned the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC) "Protecting the Privacy of Customers of Broadband and Other Telecommunications Service" rule. This rule ensured the privacy of consumers by requiring customer consent before Internet Service Providers (ISPs) could use, share, or sell a customer's personal information, including personal internet browsing histories.
"The right to privacy is a fundamental principle in our democracy. No American should be expected to surrender their privacy when using the internet. Today, Republicans in the House voted to allow corporations to collect your most intimate data -- geolocation, browser history, medical information, and more -- and sell it to other corporations without obtaining permission from the user. I believe this is a gross invasion of privacy and strongly voted against this invasive legislation," said Congressman Ryan.
House Republicans brought this Joint Resolution to the Floor under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) in order to bypass the sixty-vote filibuster threshold in the Senate and block any substantially similar future regulation.
In October 2016, the FCC adopted new privacy and consumer data security rules requiring ISPs to safeguard Americans' personal information when they go online. This rule was just rejected by GOP leadership. There are three main components of these rule.
ISPs must clearly ask for their customers' permission to collect and share sensitive personal data collected over the network -- including internet browsing history, email content, and app usage -- with advertisers and other third parties;
ISPs would need to take "reasonable measures" to secure consumers' usage and personal information; and
ISPs must notify customers within 30 days if hackers breach the system and if more than 5,000 customers are impacted. They must notify the FBI, Secret Service, and FCC within 7 days of the breach.