No More Privacy Protections for American Consumers’ Web Browsing History
https://sp-security.blogspot.com/2017/04/no-more-privacy-protections-for.html
US
politicians voted to kill privacy rules designed to prevent ISPs from
selling their subscribers’ web browsing and app usage histories to
advertisers. Such rules were scheduled to come into effect by the end of
this year and force ISPs to get people’s consent before hawking their
data.
Without
these protections, the Internet service providers will be able to track
browsing behavior of their users and sell information about it to
advertisers without consent. We are talking about a huge treasure trove
of personal information, including health concerns, shopping habits and
visits to adult websites. Lots of secondary information can also be
obtained this way as well – for instance, based on the websites you
visit, the ISPs can find out where you bank, your political views and
sexual orientation. Moreover, the very fact that a person looking at any
website can also reveal when they are at home and when they are not.
Many argued that repealing the privacy rules would be anti-competitive and provide more power to a handful of business entities, let alone the fact that Americans already pay much more for broadband than Europeans due to “monopolistic, anti-competitive practices”.
On the other hand, those supporting repealing the privacy rules claimed that this move can level the playing field for ISPs willing to get into the advertising business, as it will allow them to show users more relevant advertising and offers. As a result, the local companies would get a better return on the investment they have made in infrastructure. Apparently, they don’t consider web browsing history and app usage “sensitive” information.
However, privacy campaigners claim that the Internet service providers should be treated differently from such advertising services as Google and Facebook, because consumers usually have only one choice of broadband provider but can choose not to use Facebook or Google’s search engines and use many tools to block their tracking on other parts of the web. As for ISPs tracking, it is much harder to prevent – through using a VPN service (for money) or Tor. In either way, browsing gets more complicated.
Posted by:SaM
Many argued that repealing the privacy rules would be anti-competitive and provide more power to a handful of business entities, let alone the fact that Americans already pay much more for broadband than Europeans due to “monopolistic, anti-competitive practices”.
On the other hand, those supporting repealing the privacy rules claimed that this move can level the playing field for ISPs willing to get into the advertising business, as it will allow them to show users more relevant advertising and offers. As a result, the local companies would get a better return on the investment they have made in infrastructure. Apparently, they don’t consider web browsing history and app usage “sensitive” information.
However, privacy campaigners claim that the Internet service providers should be treated differently from such advertising services as Google and Facebook, because consumers usually have only one choice of broadband provider but can choose not to use Facebook or Google’s search engines and use many tools to block their tracking on other parts of the web. As for ISPs tracking, it is much harder to prevent – through using a VPN service (for money) or Tor. In either way, browsing gets more complicated.
Posted by:SaM
