Less than three months after Congress used the Congressional Review Act to repeal Obama-era privacy regulations at the Federal Communications Commission, Republican lawmakers are now taking the lead on legislation for “light-touch” protection of personal information.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and several other GOP lawmakers are looking to tackle the issue of how best to protect users’ information on the Internet, as Congress prepares to address a regulatory void.
“There will be more activity on it. You’re seeing it on the state level already,” Ernesto Falcon, legislative counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told the Washington Examiner. “Whether it’s Congress or the legislature, there will be more pro-privacy responses coming.”
Last month, Blackburn introduced a bill called the Browser Act that would require sites to obtain a user’s consent before collecting and selling their information for marketing.
“The way the Browser Act will improve privacy is it gives the individual more tools in their toolbox,” Blackburn told the Washington Examiner. “One of the biggest questions I get from people is ‘How do I protect myself online?’ I refer to it as the virtual you. What people want to know is that they’re going to have the same protections online that they have in the physical world. They want those protections in the physical space to match up.”
The move comes after Republicans used the Congressional Review Act this year to repeal regulations requiring Internet service providers to obtain consent from users — to opt in — before they collected and used their information to sell advertising.
GOP lawmakers argued the regulations, adopted by the FCC in October, were too broad and warned the agency was overreaching its authority.
Internet service providers also disagreed with the regulations, saying they put them at a competitive disadvantage with “edge providers” such as Google and Facebook, companies the Federal Trade Commission ensures are adhering to their privacy policies and that don’t need to obtain consent from users before using Internet activity for advertising and marketing.
But after voting to roll them back, Republicans faced swift backlash from constituents, outside groups and even late-night television hosts.
Now, they’re working to restore Internet protections. Blackburn favors a system in which users have to “opt in” consent before Internet companies can collect and sell their Internet activity, as her bill would require.
That differs from the current regime, in which Internet companies can collect and sell user’s browsing history and Internet activity for advertising and marketing unless users request to “opt out.”
Blackburn said her bill would create “one set of rules for the entire ecosystem” and level the playing field for Internet service providers and edge providers.
“The FCC hasn’t been the nation’s regulator,” she said. “That belongs to the FTC. Our legislation says, ‘No, FCC, this is not on your plate. It’s there for the FTC.’ We’re going to have one regulation and one set of rules.”
So far, Blackburn’s legislation has been well-received by some Internet companies.
“We have always said consumers expect their online data to be protected by a comprehensive and uniform privacy framework that applies across the entire Internet ecosystem and includes operating systems, browsers, devices, ISPs, apps, online services and advertising networks,” a spokesman for AT&T said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “We support Chairwoman Blackburn for moving the discussion in that direction, and we look forward to working with her as this legislation moves forward.”
But Google and Facebook have come out in strong opposition to the legislation. For those companies, the ability to collect and sell customer information for marketing purposes is at their core of their business models.
“This bill has the potential to upend the consumer experience online and stifle innovation,” Noah Theran, vice president of public affairs and communications for the Internet Association, said in a statement. “Policymakers must recognize the websites and apps continue to be under strict FTC privacy enforcement and are not in an enforcement gap, unlike other stakeholders in the ecosystem.”
The Internet Association is a trade group representing major Internet companies, including Google, Facebook and Amazon.
Falcon, of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, instead implored lawmakers to create a “unified concept.”
“It’s nice to say that everything should be the same, but these are very different markets and very different in terms of competition,” he said. “A realistic premise would be a unified concept in terms of how privacy and personal data are treated, but with specific details related to the area.”
Still, support among lawmakers for legislation addressing Internet privacy is ramping up.
Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Steve Daines, R-Montana, are reportedly interested in proposals addressing Internet privacy following the backlash Congress faced after rolling back the Obama administration’s privacy regulations.
Congress’ foray into this issue could become the norm, Blackburn said, as users become more aware of “whose monetized their data and what they are doing with it.”
“They feel the federal government has not exercised their authority over this space,” she said. “It’s an interstate commerce issue, and I think you will see us do something, light-touch regulation, and we will be ready to move forward.”
