On April 3rd, 2017, President Trump signed a repeal of broadband internet privacy rules put in place during Obama’s last year in office. The repeal is considered a major setback for privacy advocates and a victory for internet service providers (ISPs) such as Comcast, Centurylink, and Verizon. The rules would have placed limitations on how ISPs could gather and distribute user’s sensitive data. The FCC outlined exactly what sensitive information is and includes: Precise Geo-location,Web browsing history, Social Security Numbers, The content of communications, Children’s information, Financial information. Activities conducted on the web in the privacy of one’s own home is now available for purchase. Large telecom companies like AT&T argued that getting consumers’ permission to use their personal data would create significant harm to the ISPs (Brodkin). The Trump administration agreed. ISP’s have monopolies in most markets leaving consumers little options if they disagree with the ISP’s privacy policy. If the FCC is unwilling to address ISPs unilateral infringement on it’s citizen personal privacy then States should enact legislation allowing consumers to pilot how personal information is used and what is bought and sold by third parties.Legislators in Minnesota and Washington have taken the leadby introducing legislation ensuring that ISPs acquire consent from customersbefore gathering and selling sensitive data. “Your internet access provider shouldn’t be able to sellyour private information like your browsing history to the highest bidder,”said state Rep. Drew Hansen of  theWashington State House. “If Congress isn’t willing to stop that from happening,then we in Washington state are absolutely going to act to protect our privacy”(Qtd in Orenstein).Before this legislation reaching Trump’s desk, a temporarystay had already been placed on implementing the rules by, Ajit Pai, the newhead of the Federal Communications Commission. This stay and subsequent repeal of the Obama-era privacy laws were theculmination of years of disagreement and lobbying over how ISPs should beclassified and regulated. Major points of contention exist regarding whichadministrative agency should have oversight over ISPs and how they should bedefined under federal law. Unlike websites like Facebook and Google, which areregulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), ISPs are considered commoncarriers and are governed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).  The FCC, under Obama, reclassified ISPs as“common carriers” in 2015, thus treating them like other utilities. The Obamaadministration justified this reclassification by arguing that ISPs are the“on-ramp” to the Internet (FCC Fact Sheet). Not only do ISPs have access tothings that consumers may voluntarily share over the web, but they have accessto other information, notably browsing history and patterns, in which consumersmay have a reasonable expectation of privacy. The FCC rules were designed toprotect sensitive customer information from dissemination to third partieswithout the user’s consent. The FCC reclassified ISPs to enforce net neutrality rules,which require ISPs to act as neutral gateways to the internet (Morrison). Thisclassification also recognizes the importance of ISPs as providers of publicgoods, and therefore subject to regulation by the FCC.  The FCC fact sheet regarding broadbandprivacy rules states that the FCC has had decades of experience in protectingconsumers’ privacy rights.In contrast, the FTC is primarily concerned with regulating“unfair or deceptive acts or practices” (Gellman).  They are not overly concerned with privacyrights.  The FTC is regarded as a weakeragency in terms of enforcement than the FCC in general, due to its limitedjurisdiction and the smaller scope of its regulatory mandate (Gellman). TheISPs would like to be under the purview of the FTC, rather than the FCC. Thenew Trump-appointed heads of these agencies agree.Ajit Pai, Chairman of the FCC, and Maureen Ohlhausen, acting Chair of the FTC, issued a joint statement in early March indicating that the agencies wanted to create “a comprehensive and consistent framework” that applies both to ISPs and websites (Brodkin). Further, the two helpfully noted that different privacy rules for ISPs and websites would confuse consumers. The joint statement continued, “Americans care about the overall privacy of their information when they use the Internet, and they shouldn’t have to be lawyers or engineers to figure out if their information is protected differently depending on which part of the Internet holds it” (Gellman). This temporary stay of Obama’s privacy regulations was issued on March 1, 2017.  It was made permanent by Trump’s signing of repeal of broadband privacy rules on April 3, 2017, and put a halt to the Obama administration’s attempt to protect consumers’ privacy.In October 2016, the FCC promulgated rules that wouldrequire ISPs to obtain users’ permission to use and share their personalinformation. Before the establishment of this regulation, there were noguidelines in place regarding how ISPs could take advantage of consumerinformation, including children’s consumer information. The FCC’s rules,according to the agency, were not intended to prevent ISPs from using consumerinformation, but rather, to give users a voice in how the information was usedin marketing and whether or not it was sold to third parties. However, theTrump administration saw the rules differently.The newly appointed members of the FCC under Trump foundthat the Obama-era rules would create significant compliance costs for theISPs, although no concrete evidence was provided by the committee to supportthis contention. USTelcom, a lobbying group representing AT&T, Verizon, andother large telecoms, agreed and stated that they looked forward to thegovernment developing “a uniform, consumer-focused approach toprivacy” (Brodkin). The ISPs main argument was that they should not betreated differently from websites like Facebook on safeguarding users’ privacy.So many consumers were concerned with this repeal that Gerard Lewis, the chiefprivacy officer of Comcast stated, “We do not sell our broadband customers’individual web browsing history. We did not do it before the FCC’s rules wereadopted, and we have no plans to do so.”However, some argue that now that the FCC rules have beenrevoked, no agency is regulating the ISPs, and the ISPs are subject to fewerregulations than websites (Brodkin). The FCC is not likely to promulgate newrules soon, as Chairman Pai has indicated that he favors a hands-off approachtowards regulating ISPs and telecoms.  Although the Trump administration has argued that therevocation of the privacy rules will not have a large or detrimental impact onconsumers, privacy advocates disagree. Mostly the rules would have allowed consumers to “opt-in” to anymarketing, data mining, or data sharing policies of the ISP.  Revocation of these rules preserves thestatus quo, which instead requires consumers to affirmatively “opt-out” of anydata collection by the ISP. This puts the onus of keeping one’s privateinformation private on the consumer, rather than on the entity that wishes toprofit from this information.The Trump administration is just maintaining the status quo.Critics of the regulations felt that they created unnecessary roadblocks to theunfettered development of the internet, and placed unfair burdens on ISPs.  However, supporters of the rules note thatthe web is a public good and the government has a right to protect its citizenswhen they are using this public good. Further, they argue that the regulationsdo not harm the ISPs and do not prevent them from collecting any data theywish, they must simply get their consumers’ permission first.  Works Cited Orenstein, Walker,“Prefer Privacy as You Surf the Web? Bills Want Providers to Ask Before Selling Data.” The New Tribune, 4 April 2017. http://www.thenewstribune.com/news /politics-government/article142571264.htmlUnited States, Federal Communications Commission, Fact Sheet: The FCC Adopts Order to Give Broadband Consumers Increased Choice Over Their Personal Information, March 2016, https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-341938A1.pdfGet Help With Your EssayIf you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!Find out more