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We had two story submissions on reactions to the US Congress deciding that one's ISP browsing history need not be private.
Protesters raise more than $200,000 to buy Congress’s browsing histories
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
After Congress voted Tuesday to dismantle landmark privacy protections for Internet users, pockets of the Web erupted in a mixture of fury and fear.
Among other changes, this legislation would make it easier, and legal, for Internet service providers (ISPs) to both gather and sell personal information including Web browsing history. In other words, AT&T could, in theory, sell to the highest bidder a list of the websites you've visited and the frequency with which you visited them.
Many Internet users aren't keen on the idea of companies selling their browsing data, so several independently came up with the same plan: They began crowdfunding campaigns to purchase the Web histories of the members who voted to wipe away those protections.
A few of these campaigns — there are at least four — are fairly small. Two, though, have raised more than a combined $200,000 as of early Thursday morning.
Misha Collins, the star of television's "Supernatural," started one such fundraiser that has raised more than $60,000 of its ambitious $500,000,000 goal.
"Great news! The House just voted to pass SJR34. We will finally be able to buy the browser history of all the Congresspeople who voted to sell our data and privacy without our consent!" he wrote in its description.
[...] Thanks, Congress, for voting to put all of our private data up for sale! We can't wait to buy yours.
— Misha Collins (@mishacollins) March 28, 2017
Purchase Private Internet Histories
Adam McElhaney, a self-described privacy activist says:
Thanks to the Senate for passing S.J.Res 34, now your Internet history can be bought.
I plan on purchasing the Internet histories of all legislators, congressmen, executives, and their families and make them easily searchable at searchinternethistory.com.
Help me raise money to buy the histories of those who took away your right to privacy for just thousands of dollars from telephone and ISPs. Your private data will be bought and sold to marketing companies, law enforcement.
Let's turn the tables. Let's buy THEIR history and make it available.
[Ed Note: The Verge has a good article on why although this is well intentioned, it's not going to work.]
(Score: 2) by jasassin on Friday March 31 2017, @07:34PM (5 children)
Some ISP's allow you to opt out. I called my ISP the tech told me the CEO said that they will never sell customer data, they respect privacy.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31 2017, @07:48PM
It's adorable that you believe them.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by captain_nifty on Friday March 31 2017, @08:12PM (1 child)
Sell... of course we would never sell the data, that plays very poorly in the news cycle.
We will of course exchange it with our trusted third party affiliates, which is all clearly explained in page 37, subsection F, paragraph 3's footnote to our amended end user licensing and privacy agreement that you automatically agree to every time you connect to our network; and no of course you can't see a copy of that agreement that would violate our privacy!
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday March 31 2017, @08:31PM
Mr Prosser: But, Mr Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months.
Arthur: Oh yes, well as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn’t exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them had you? I mean like actually telling anybody or anything.
Mr Prosser: But the plans were on display…
Arthur: On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.
Mr Prosser: That’s the display department.
Arthur: With a torch.
Mr Prosser: The lights had probably gone out.
Arthur: So had the stairs.
Mr Prosser: But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?
Arthur: Yes yes I did. It was on display at the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying beware of the leopard.
(Douglas Adams, for the extra-rare SN reader who doesn't know their HHGTTG)
(Score: 4, Informative) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Friday March 31 2017, @08:30PM
Check your terms of service.
-UNISERVE TERMS OF SERVICE (GENERAL) (Oct 2007 version) [archive.org]
The new terms have that clause removed.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Saturday April 01 2017, @09:42PM
Some ISP's allow you to opt out.
Yes, that WAS the law. Now they are free to do so without any such consideration.