Senate Votes To Roll Back Privacy Protections For Internet Users

The FCC’s efforts to put restrictions on what internet service providers can do with the information they have about their users is all but dead, following a party-line 50-48 vote in the Senate this afternoon to roll back this regulation.

When the FCC reclassified broadband internet as a vital piece of telecommunications infrastructure in 2015, it means that the agency also had to take over responsibility for considerations of privacy in this industry. Previously, this issue had largely been a matter — like many federal privacy concerns — for the Federal Trade Commission.

After much consternation from the telecom and cable industry, the FCC adopted the new privacy rules in Oct. 2016, requiring, among other things, that internet service providers get users’ permission before they can share certain sensitive information with third parties.

The new rules also stated that ISPs must give users a way to opt out of having their less-sensitive information shared with third parties. The privacy rules only apply to internet service providers — think Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, Charter — and not to content companies like Facebook, Google, or Netflix. The FCC has no authority to regulate privacy practices for content providers.

Because of this disparity, the telecom industry cried foul, saying the rules were unfair and calling on Congress and the Trump administration to stop them.

The FCC, under the direction of new Chairman Ajit Pai, has already stayed a data security requirement of the rule from going into effect. That part of the rule was supposed to have kicked in on March 2.

Today, the Senate used a legislative tool known as the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to get the ball rolling on repealing the entire rule.

The CRA is a 1996 law that gives Congress a brief window of time to review any new major regulations to decide whether or not they approve. Until recently, the CRA had only been used successfully once in its two decades of existence. However, the start of a new Congress made the CRA review window larger than it usually would be, and now lawmakers — with the GOP controlling the House, Senate, and White House — are using the law to roll back a number of regulations finalized during the last months of the Obama administration.

Under the CRA, the House and Senate must each pass resolutions of disapproval. Unlike a traditional law, this sort of resolution only requires a simple majority in the Senate to pass. Supporters of the FCC privacy rule had hoped there were would be a few lawmakers willing to break rank and vote against the resolution.

This afternoon’s vote was strictly along party lines. Sens. Rand Paul (KY) and Johny Isakson (GA), both Republicans, did not vote.

The House must now take up the resolution. However, given the GOP’s more significant majority in that chamber, it seems unlikely that the resolution will be defeated. After that, the White House would sign the resolution, officially undoing the FCC’s privacy rule and requiring the agency to start from scratch.