Senate Dems to Trump: Veto broadband privacy repeal
Senate Democrats are pushing President Trump to reject legislation that would repeal the Obama-era Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) broadband privacy rules.
Forty-six Democrats sent a letter to Trump on Thursday to veto the bill, which passed Congress along a pair of party-line votes.
The White House said Thursday that the president would sign the bill, but Democrats warn that getting rid of the Obama-era rules would negatively impact privacy.
“This legislation will seriously undermine the privacy protections of the overwhelming majority of Americans who believe that their private information should be just that — private — and not for sale without their knowledge,” the senators wrote.
{mosads}The FCC rules would have given consumers more control over their data and prevented internet service providers from selling subscribers’ “sensitive” information — including web browsing history — to third parties.
The rules haven’t yet gone into effect.
Democrats added that the Obama-era regulation “sent a clear message” that choices about subscribers’ data “should be in the hands of consumers” and that getting rid of the rules would give “free rein” to internet service providers.
“Reversing these landmark privacy protections would be the antithesis of a pro-consumer Administration,” they wrote. “Consumers deserve the right to make their own decisions about access, use, and sale of their personal, sensitive internet data by their broadband provider.”
Thursday’s letter was signed by all Senate Democrats with the exception of Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Mark Warner (Va.).
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