SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The broadband industry is suing Maine to stop a Web-browsing privacy law similar to the one killed by Congress and President Donald Trump in 2017. Industry groups claim the state law violates First Amendment protections on free speech and the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution.
[...] Customer data protected by this law includes Web-browsing history, application-usage history, precise geolocation data, the content of customers' communications, IP addresses, device identifiers, financial and health information, and personal details used for billing.
[...] The state law "imposes unprecedented and unduly burdensome restrictions on ISPs', and only ISPs', protected speech," while imposing no requirements on other companies that deliver services over the Internet, the groups wrote in their lawsuit. The plaintiffs are America's Communications Association, CTIA, NCTA, and USTelecom.
[...] The lawsuit is part of a larger battle between ISPs and states that are trying to impose regulations stronger than those enforced by the federal government. One factor potentially working against the ISPs is that the Federal Communications Commission's attempt to preempt all current and future state net neutrality laws was blocked by a federal appeals court ruling in October 2019.
[...] But while the FCC was allowed to eliminate its own net neutrality rules, judges said the commission "lacked the legal authority to categorically abolish all 50 States' statutorily conferred authority to regulate intrastate communications."
Previous Story:
Maine Governor Signs Strictest Internet Protections in the U.S.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by takyon on Wednesday February 19 2020, @03:41AM (1 child)
Negotiating with one entity, the FCC, to beam your waves from space (Starlink) could be the superior option. No arguing with state legislatures [arstechnica.com] and competitors [arstechnica.com] about utility poles and other junk.
Locally, people can focus on the mythical meshnets instead.
As for this law, you would hope that competition alone could fix the problem, but if there is real value in the data collection, the most data-hungry ISPs could offer cheaper service than privacy-respecting ISPs. To the point where the latter can't remain in the market.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday February 19 2020, @04:06AM
At least there would be the choice to sell their data for cheaper service. And putting municipal into the market definitely helps, we can use the constitution on them. Public oversight is as effective as the public wants it to be.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..