Broadband Privacy Rules: Minnesota Passes Own Protections Against Collecting Browsing History

The Minnesota State Senate voted Wednesday to draft its own broadband consumer privacy protections that would prevent internet service providers from collecting user information without permission, the Pioneer Press reported.

The surprise move by the state came in response to the United States Senate and House of Representatives voting to repeal the Broadband Consumer Privacy Rules that would have afforded the same protections to all Americans.

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The rule was raised as an amendment attached to the Minnesota senate’s economic development budget bill by Democratic Senator Ron Latz. According to Latz, the rule was needed to ensure the privacy of Minnesota citizens after the U.S. opted to roll back consumer protections.

Latz’s amendment was challenged by some in the state legislature who argued the rule would carry a cost for state agencies and needed to be passed through a committee process rather than be added to the bill from the floor.

The challenge seemed as though it may doom the protections, as the vote on such amendments usually fall along party lines and Republicans hold a single-seat majority in the Minnesota senate. The vote to repeal the same protections at a national level came primarily on party-line votes, with Democrats opposing the repeal and Republicans favoring it.

However a Republican, Senator Warren Limmer, decided to cross the aisle and vote in favor of the privacy amendment, which resulted in in the amendment making it to the senate floor for a full vote.

“We should be outraged at the invasion that’s being allowed on our most intimate means of communication,” Limmer said, according to the Pioneer Press. “This is an amendment that so urgently needs to be addressed.”

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Once taken to a vote in the senate, the amendment garnered overwhelming support and was successfully added to the larger bill. The amendment passed on a 66-1 vote, with the lone dissenter being Republican Senator David Osmek.

The broader bill, with privacy amendment included, passed in the senate by a vote of 58-9. The next step for the state legislature is to reconcile the Senate bill with the version that passed the Minnesota House of Representatives, which also included an broadband consumer privacy provision.