— from the Daily Olympian —
Aided by the Congress, President Donald Trump struck a blow this week for high-tech freedom and against individuals’ privacy on the internet.
Perhaps the Other Washington can strike back. Democratic state Sen. Kevin Ranker of Orcas Island and Republican Sen. Joe Fain of Auburn moved quickly to introduce legislation this week called the Washington Internet Privacy Act. Senate Bill 5919 ( see https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=5919&Year=2017 )
Fain and Ranker want to use the state Consumer Protection Act to block an internet service provider from collecting “identifiable, personal information without the customer’s permission.”
Trump signed the congressional resolution Monday, rolling back a Federal Communications Commission rule in the works from the Obama era. It would have kept broadband providers from selling information they have on customers’ online history.
Internet providers, or ISPs, had argued that Google and Facebook are able to collect data on users and use it to target advertising to users. Broadband providers wanted similar opportunities.
Read more at theolympian.com/opinion/editorials/
Thank you, Senators Kevin Ranker and Joe Fain!
I received a letter from my wonderful ISP, Orcas Online, assuring customers that they will never sell our personal information or our privacy – thank you, Orcas Online.
I hope other ISPs will make the same commitments to their customers.