Action: Call Your State Reps to Protest Lack of Online Privacy

[tassosss]

from kyrielle

Well, unless President Trump refuses to sign the bill, the regulation keeping our ISPs from selling our browsing history is going down.

Minnesota is moving to handle it on a local scale; maybe those of us in other states should be reaching out to our state government to add similar local legislation?

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/isp-privacy-rules-could-be-resurrected-by-states-starting-in-minnesota/

ETA: alexseanchai  has a good script in the comments

Comments

[alexseanchai]

I emailed my state senator and representative directly. Here is a script for anyone who wants to do the same:

The U.S. Senate and House have passed legislation to make it possible for businesses, including but not limited to Internet service providers, and governments to buy and sell Internet users' private browsing data. The only person who can at this point stop the repeal of the FCC regulations preventing exactly this is President Trump; he has no reason to care about anything but his own personal financial benefit. He will not protect citizen or consumer privacy.

I am deeply concerned about this for several reasons:

Businesses will be able to inject ads into sites that should have none, irritating people and risking (because so many ads contain malware) the safety of those people's locally stored data and the integrity of their Internet-capable devices.

Businesses will be able to redirect search engine traffic from sites that do not pay to sites that do.

When people suspect they or their child has a new medical issue, the first place many of us go is Google. Personal medical data, therefore, will be available for purchase.

There will be a chilling effect on freedom of speech and association, because no one will be able to know anymore who might have access to our Internet browsing. Activists, especially those of us whose activism is dangerous to powerful people, and people such as LGBT teens with conservative families to whom they don't dare be honest because honesty will risk their personal safety, are at particular risk from this.

I understand it may be possible, at the state level, to do something to protect people's privacy and freedom on the Internet, at least when those people are in said state, or at least from businesses governed by the law of said state. Minnesota is trying this:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/isp-privacy-rules-could-be-resurrected-by-states-starting-in-minnesota/

I hope that both of you will introduce legislation designed to protect [state] residents and customers of [state] businesses from the effects of the repeal of the FCC Internet privacy regulations.

Thank you for your time.

[watersword]

I'm borrowing this for a letter to my governor!

[alexseanchai]

:)