ISP’s now have full access to people’s personal information
President Donald Trump checked another box off his anti-Obama checklist when he signed a congressional resolution to overturn internet privacy regulations enacted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) during the Barack Obama administration April 3.
The Obama-era FCC regulations required internet service providers (ISP’s) to get consent from their consumers before collecting personal information regarding online activity. From what I’ve read, the term “personal information” is subject, but not limited to, internet histories and online shopping preferences.
However, the privacy regulations approved during the Obama era hadn’t even been enforced by the FCC since their approval last October, according to The New York Times.
ISP’s such as Comcast and Verizon operate in accordance with regulations mandated by the FCC. In contrast, internet-based companies such as Facebook and Google operate under regulations mandated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Both ISP’s and internet-based companies follow the same rules set forth by their parent government agencies. The difference lies in their public exposure. While websites, such as Facebook, do have a massive marketing audience, Facebook isn’t a direct route to the internet the same way Comcast or Verizon is. Facebook is only a product offered by the internet, and in extension the internet provider.
The FTC has been subject to criticism in the past over its comparatively lax privacy policies regarding personal information.
For example, Facebook is free to use information based off of an individual’s likes and dislikes in order to calculate that person’s preferences. Then they use that information to calculate which advertisements are most suited to that individual, and funnel them into their social media feed.
According to The New York Times reporter Steve Lohr, this form of advertising has led many privacy advocates to believe online-based companies and their partnered advertisers have too much freedom in accessing the personal information of nonconsenting people.
While ISP’s are not totally innocent of these kinds of advertising tactics, there is (or was) a stricter limitation to what they could and couldn’t access without consent.
Now, under the Trump administration, the differences in FCC and FTC are nearly as distinct. ISP’s now have the right to sell the personal information of their consumers to advertising companies with virtually no fear of backlash.
Initially, I wanted to jump all over this change in regulation, but there hasn’t been that much of a change. The change to the FCC’s protection policy during Obama era wasn’t being enforced. The only thing that changed was the verbage in the documented regulations. As far as physical, traceable and enforced change goes, there hasn’t been any.
Don’t get me wrong — the fact that multimillion-dollar corporations now have legal, streamlined access to my personal information aggravates me to no end. However, I don’t feel like anything significant has changed to instigate my aggravation.
It’s a paradox. Under the Obama administration, there was a change in policy that looked good on paper, but there was no enforcement. Under the Trump administration, the policy has simply legalized what was already happening. Either way, it seems the end result is the same.
On the one hand, I loathe the idea of my privacy being infringed upon. On the other hand, it would be delusional to believe the internet was very “private” in the first place.
The fact is, the more something grows, the more it becomes a target for exploitation. I don’t like it, but it’s the way of the world.
One person’s privacy is another person’s paycheck.
Andrew Wardcan be reached at [email protected]