You can thank President Donald Trump, Sen. Roy Blunt and Rep. Billy Long for stripping away a large piece of your online privacy rights.
The lawmakers representing our state voted in favor of Senate Joint Resolution 34. Blunt was a co-sponsor of the legislation, and Long was among those who supported it.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Reps. Lacy Clay and Emanuel Cleaver opposed the resolution. The votes were along party lines, with only those three of our state’s 10 senators and representatives against it.
Nationally, the House of Representatives approved SJR 34 by a 215-205 margin, while the Senate registered a 50-48 count in favor. The legislation passed to Trump, who gave the green light to stop the implementation of an Obama-era Federal Communications Commission rule requiring internet service providers ask permission of users to gain access to such data as search history and geolocation.
There’s no current law or regulation on the books prohibiting ISPs from selling off users’ personal information for financial gain. That means targeted advertisements, the use of your private information to determine which ads to show you. That could include your search results related to financial and medical services.
Turns out, your right to privacy doesn’t extend to ads on the internet, at least in many of our legislators’ eyes.
I don’t know about you, but that makes me uncomfortable. This type of action skates the line of identity theft. Merriam-Webster defines the term as “the illegal use of someone else’s personal information (as a Social Security number) especially in order to obtain money or credit.”
Maybe you’re not having your credit card or driver’s license stolen, but you’re certainly becoming a commodity against your will. Corporations – think AT&T, Comcast, etc. – are profiting off you without your say-so. I sure didn’t sign off on that. Did you? If you could, would you? I somehow doubt it.
When any identity theft or financial crime articles are written for Springfield Business Journal’s Daily Update e-newsletter, page views abound. I’d imagine it’s the same kind of curiosity that causes a person to drive slowly by a car wreck to take it all in. But nobody wants to be the one involved, right?
This all may sound overdramatic, but it’s also likely just the start. Ajit Pai, Trump’s FCC chairman, was picked, in part, to roll back consumer protections created during Barack Obama’s presidency. The loss of these protections could eventually result in the selection of winners and losers, meaning, for example, AT&T might favor its own U-verse streaming service over the likes of Netflix when it comes to download speeds. Without protections in place, what stops them?
Trump ran on a campaign of repealing regulations that adversely affect businesses. That’s appealing to many – sometimes rightly so – but it shouldn’t mean individual rights are trodden upon to make those promises a reality. Aren’t lawmakers elected to represent the interests of their constituents – not corporations? Perhaps that’s wishful thinking.
Admittedly, anonymity on the internet can be dangerous. People may hide behind aliases to spew hatred, spread lies and, worse, commit cybercrimes. But the acts of a few shouldn’t dictate the rules governing many.
If lawmakers are so quick to strip away internet privacy rights, what’s to stop them from further removing individual rights until there’s nothing left of the self? That’s rather Orwellian, but without individuals speaking up, it’s entirely plausible.
Even if your pedestal is simply a voting booth, make your voice heard.
Web Producer Geoff Pickle can be reached at gpickle@sbj.net.
