US internet policy

Privacy, a thing of the past!

On 28^th March 2017, the House of Representatives voted to repeal an Obama-era law that demanded internet service providers have permission to share personal information - including location data. US internet service providers (ISPs) will soon no longer need consent from users to share browsing history with marketers and other third parties.

What do People Think?

• A poll conducted in Time.com showed 69 percent of the respondents believed people are sold as products to advertisers.
• 77 percent of the respondents agreed that the concept of privacy will gradually fade away.
• 72 percent of the respondents felt it was a bad idea to have appliances, baby monitors etc to report criminal behavior.
• 91 percent of the respondents believe that a gap between privacy rich and privacy poor is a likely.

Analysis 

• ISPs will have to get clear permission from users to share personal data such as precise geo-location, financial information, health information, children’s information, social security numbers, web browsing history, app usage history and the content of communications.
• The move that makes privacy a think of the past maybe a corporate agenda. Corporations that fund political campaigns may have used pressure to push the move.

Assessment 

The fact it, ISPs were being subject to stricter privacy laws than companies like Google or Facebook. Lets assume combating terrorism & cyber terrorism demands privacy to be kept as second priority and that people are willing to give it up for this reason. But, the question is about the data that corporate companies have or collect which are used for economic gains. Eg: Data that suggests that the individual has been seeing the doctor a bit too much, or searching online about treatments for an ailment may result in a life insurance company increasing premiums, by buying such data off ISPs.