Donald Trump Signs Internet Privacy Regulations Repeal Resolution

President Donald Trump has signed a resolution to repeal the internet privacy regulations introduced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under former President Barak Obama. The resolution barely passed in Congress last week, with Republicans siding with internet service providers who claimed the regulations were unfair.

In addition, the resolution passed Monday prohibits the FCC from passing any other privacy restrictions that would protect customers’ data.

“The consequences of passing this resolution are clear: broadband providers like AT&T, Comcast, and others will be able to sell your personal information to the highest bidder without your permission,” Democrat Rep. Anna Eshoo said on the floor of the house. “And no one will be able to protect you, not even the Federal Trade Commission that our friends on the other side of the aisle keep talking about.”

The move is a major development for the telecom industry, which saw the rules as unreasonable and burdensome while claiming that tech companies such as Facebook and Google would not have been affected by the now-repealed rules.

On Friday, Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast said they would voluntarily not sell their customers' individual web browsing information.

In a blog post, Gerard Lewis, the chief privacy officer for Comcast, said: “We do not sell our broadband customers’ individual web browsing history. We did not do it before the FCC’s rules were adopted, and we have no plans to do so.”

However, privacy groups such as American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which backed the FCC and its efforts under Obama, consider the resolution as a major setback. They said privacy should be more important than profits, and "most Americans believe that their sensitive internet information should be closely guarded."

The regulations imposed during the Obama administration restricted internet service providers from using any user’s sensitive information, including their browsing history and details of their finances and health, to create targeted advertisements, without their consent.