Senate votes to undo Obama-era internet privacy rules

[Sonikku]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-votes-to-undo-obama-era-internet-privacy-rules/

"The regulations would have required a company like Verizon to get approval before telling an advertiser what websites customers visited, what apps they used, their health and financial information, or their physical location. Under the regulations, many more people likely would have chosen not to allow their data to be shared than if they had to take an extra step of asking a company to stop sharing or selling their information.

Industry groups and Republicans protested the regulations."

 

[theeedude]

So what's to stop an insurance company from buying your search history on various medical concerns? This has the potential to be to be a huge PR nightmare for politicians and industries who supported this.

 

[ivwshane]

So what's to stop an insurance company from buying your search history on various medical concerns? This has the potential to be to be a huge PR nightmare for politicians and industries who supported this.

I'm pretty sure they wouldn't get that level of detail where you could associate someone's browsing habits with a particular person.

People should just start using vpn's or higher levels of encryption to make the data worthless.

 

[stormkroe]

So what's to stop an insurance company from buying your search history on various medical concerns? This has the potential to be to be a huge PR nightmare for politicians and industries who supported this.

What about ransomware groups buying swaths of history to blackmail husbands/wives? The Ashley Madison leak would look like a misplaced rolidex.

 

[Jhhnn]

I'm pretty sure they wouldn't get that level of detail where you could associate someone's browsing habits with a particular person.

People should just start using vpn's or higher levels of encryption to make the data worthless.

That won't happen. Obama had it right- they just have to be stopped. The implications wrt privacy are obscene.

 

[ivwshane]

That won't happen. Obama had it right- they just have to be stopped. The implications wrt privacy are obscene.

Good luck with that.

 

[dank69]

I think this is great and exactly what America wants.

 

[HomerJS]

and the Republican, we have to do the opposite of Obama no matter what train continues

 

[kage69]

The GOP's contempt for the consumer and subservience to corporations marches on.

One more reason to loathe corrupt shitbags like Cornyn.

 

[mikeymikec]

I interpreted the thread title incorrectly and thought it meant that the Trump administration was going to reverse rules that the Obama administration put in place that undermine citizens' Internet privacy, but after reading the OP, normality as I knew it was restored.

 

[nakedfrog]

So we should still have an opt-out option, at least? I wonder how difficult it will be to accomplish.

 

[Homerboy]

As I think I stated in a previous thread here or somewhere else, assuming this goes through, I would love to take up a collection and buy some Republican representatives' browsing data. I ma sure, based on past stories/history there's no dirty laundry in there at all...

 

[cfenton]

From the article in the OP:
"Cable companies, cellphone carriers and the advertising industry attacked the rules as an overreach. If the permissions requirements went into effect, it may have been more difficult for telecom companies to build advertising businesses that could serve as stiffer competition to Google and Facebook, as they want to do. Internet companies like Google doesn’t have to ask users’ permission before tracking what sites they visit."

So instead of fixing this discrepancy by changing the law so that Google can't harvest user data to sell without their permission, the Senate's solution is to make it so that more companies can harvest and sell their customers' data without their permission. All under the guise of being more consumer-friendly. Ugh.

 

[nakedfrog]

As I think I stated in a previous thread here or somewhere else, assuming this goes through, I would love to take up a collection and buy some Republican representatives' browsing data. I ma sure, based on past stories/history there's no dirty laundry in there at all...

One of our Republican state legislators got busted using Skype for paid cybersex on his state-issued laptop 🙄
Biggest problem I had with it was showing a dismaying level of common sense doing it on his damned work laptop.

 

[Vic]

Big Data contributed heavily to GOP campaigns last year, so this really shouldn't come as a surprise.

 

[Sonikku]

Any conservatives in P and N want to take a stab at defending it? I'm interested in seeing the flip side that I may have overlooked.

 

[ch33zw1z]

I'll trade my information for 90% off my bill

 

[Aikouka]

So instead of fixing this discrepancy by changing the law so that Google can't harvest user data to sell without their permission, the Senate's solution is to make it so that more companies can harvest and sell their customers' data without their permission. All under the guise of being more consumer-friendly. Ugh.

The biggest difference though is that it's possible to stop Google from tracking you as that occurs based upon information on your PC. The only way to stop your ISP from tracking you is spending money on a VPN. Although, based upon articles referring to things like medical data, this isn't just browsing data, but also personal information. In other words, expect to get more than just calls about a new warranty on your car. 😛

 

[brandonbull]

I thought Big Tech was run primarily by progressives since non-Dimocrats are mouth-breathing, uneducated neanderthals. No way would they do capitalistic things like selling user data and history.

 

[ivwshane]

I thought Big Tech was run primarily by progressives since non-Dimocrats are mouth-breathing, uneducated neanderthals. No way would they do capitalistic things like selling user data and history.

Sure, if you consider Verizon, att, and Comcast to be big tech.
Dumbass.

 

[Puffnstuff]

So what's to stop an insurance company from buying your search history on various medical concerns? This has the potential to be to be a huge PR nightmare for politicians and industries who supported this.

It certainly appears that you might be correct in this aspect and if AHC protections are removed then it could be open season on your right to health care access.
https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-individuals/guidance-materials-for-consumers/index.html?language=es

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Any conservatives in P and N want to take a stab at defending it? I'm interested in seeing the flip side that I may have overlooked.

Probably greater business opportunities for those who deal in data, user information, etc. I don't think it 'opens up' anything that would actually benefit people.

 

[pauldun170]

That data is a goldmine when planning out gerrymandering efforts.

 

[UNCjigga]

So what's to stop an insurance company from buying your search history on various medical concerns? This has the potential to be to be a huge PR nightmare for politicians and industries who supported this.

Why would they bother with that when employers can just compel you to provide your DNA for genetic testing? That's better than any search history.

 

[Jhhnn]

The biggest difference though is that it's possible to stop Google from tracking you as that occurs based upon information on your PC. The only way to stop your ISP from tracking you is spending money on a VPN. Although, based upon articles referring to things like medical data, this isn't just browsing data, but also personal information. In other words, expect to get more than just calls about a new warranty on your car. 😛

More than that is that Google or any other internet company only has limited data. Your ISP has all of it, in one place.