Repeal of Obama-Era FCC Rule Restores Internet Privacy Framework

Press Release

Congressman Kevin Cramer supported a bill today, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives and will now be sent to President Trump for his signature.
S.J. Res. 34 nullifies a rule at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which places additional regulations on internet service providers (ISPs) regarding data collection. The rule, hailed by the previous administration as an internet privacy rule, does nothing to protect consumers and stands to hurt small and rural internet providers.
The goal of the rule in the FCC's own words is to "protect the confidentiality of customer proprietary information." However, instead of working with the FTC, who has successfully overseen the privacy protections of consumers for decades, the FCC chose to implement their own privacy rule that puts additional regulatory burdens on businesses without addressing any of the goals for protecting consumer information. In fact, a study at Georgia Tech by a former Clinton Administration official indicates that ISPs have very little access to personal information due to the complex encryption protocols enabled on websites today. The study notes that the top ten websites by traffic are all encrypted, and that Non-ISPs, like social media sites and search engines, have access to a much wider range of consumer data -- all of which are overseen by an entirely differently privacy framework under the FTC.
"I'm all for privacy rights, but throwing the word "privacy' on a rule and calling it consumer protection doesn't mean it's a good rule," said Cramer. The rule allows the federal government greater authority over internet providers -- including small and rural providers -- while completely ignoring the fact that these businesses collect little usable information in the first place. When ISPs are held to a greater standard of compliance than search engines and social websites, who collect personal information as part of their entire business strategy, there's clearly alternative motives for implementing this rule. I'm glad Congress used the Congressional Review Act to rescind this harmful rule and I look forward to the President making it the rule of law."
Cramer is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, which has jurisdiction over the FCC.

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