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from the I'll-determine-what's-sensitive dept.
ISPs that want the federal government to eliminate broadband privacy rules say that your Web browsing and app usage data should not be classified as "sensitive" information.
"Web browsing and app usage history are not 'sensitive information,'" CTIA said in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission yesterday. CTIA is the main lobbyist group representing mobile broadband providers such as AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA, and Sprint.
The FCC rules passed during the Obama administration require ISPs to get opt-in consent from consumers before sharing sensitive customer information with advertisers and other third parties. The FCC defined Web browsing history and app usage history as sensitive information, along with other categories such as geo-location data, financial and health information, and the content of communications. If the rules are overturned, ISPs would be able to sell this kind of customer information to advertisers.
The opt-in rules are scheduled to take effect on or after December 4, 2017, but ISPs have petitioned the FCC to eliminate the rules before that happens. The latest CTIA filing was a reply to groups that opposed the petition to overturn the rules.
In making its argument that Web browsing and app usage history are not sensitive information, CTIA said that the Federal Trade Commission has taken a different stance than the FCC.
"To justify diverging from the FTC's framework and defining Web browsing history as 'sensitive,' the commission and the [privacy rule supporters] both cherry-picked evidence in an attempt to show that ISPs have unique and comprehensive access to consumers' online information," CTIA wrote. "As the full record shows, however, this is simply not true. Indeed, even a prominent privacy advocacy organization asserted that it is 'obvious that the more substantial threats for consumers are not ISPs,' but rather other large edge providers."
Source: ArsTechnica
(Score: 5, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Tuesday March 21 2017, @02:33PM (3 children)
So should we really be worried about what our ISP can learn?
I'm not sure I understand you correctly, but from your post, it seems like you missed the entire point here. We all know that ISPs have access to such personal data.
The issue here is whether the ISP is just allowed to share this data freely with other companies, effectively selling your browsing habits to the highest bidder. Yes, lots of companies have various data on you, but if it isn't shared, they only have info on the limited interactions you have with them directly. If you open up this data for sharing among companies, then they can "connect the dots" and get a much more complete set of data, amounting to total surveillance of your activities.
It seems like the problems go a lot deeper and are a lot wider than just what the ISP can learn.
If I understand your argument right, I think you're arguing that we already give away a lot of potentially sensitive information. That's true, and I completely agree we should talking about ways to add even more protections or avoid data collection in the first place. But I don't get how the fact that we're already compromised (mostly through ignorance) is an argument to allow complete freedom for companies to give up all of our private data to the highest bidder!?
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday March 21 2017, @02:46PM (1 child)
But I don't get how the fact that we're already compromised (mostly through ignorance) is an argument to allow complete freedom for companies to give up all of our private data to the highest bidder!?
Call it the Argument From Fatalism. If they've already got us bent over, we might as well lube up to make it less unpleasant :P
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday March 21 2017, @06:02PM
AKA don't let perfect be the enemy of good.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday March 21 2017, @03:26PM
The ISPs are a small part of a bigger more generalized problem.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.