Comcast made $56 billion last year. Verizon grossed $74.5 billion. AT&T made $87 billion. But the GOP delegation thinks they need a revenue boost, and it sold you out to get it. Watch video
Not that it's anybody's business, but it's time we learned where Reps. Rodney Frelinghuysen and Leonard Lance buy their tube socks and hair gel online. We must ask Reps. Frank LoBiondo and Tom MacArthur about the nagging symptoms they've researched on medical websites. We need to inquire about the banking institutions where Rep. Chris Smith stores his financial information.
It's only fair, since all five Republican congressmen from New Jersey have decided that sensitive personal information - much of the data related to our privacy and security that is shared online - should be put up for sale.
They all voted to send a bill to President Trump that would allow Internet Service Providers - often the giant telecoms, such as AT&T and Verizon - to collect info such as your browsing history, your app usage, and health and financial info, just so they can sell it to marketers.
An FCC rule imposed under President Obama would have prevented this, and it was to go in effect later this year. But our representatives figured that the rule is unfair to the ISPs, because websites such as Google and Facebook already store data and Congress should "level the playing field" for all internet companies.
It is an absurd trope, yet they're sticking with it.
Internet users have options regarding the websites they visit - they can choose to avoid Amazon and Facebook, especially if they prefer not to have their personal information blasting throughout cyberspace.
But internet users do not have choices of ISPs - broadband providers like Comcast and Spectrum are monopolies, period. They carve up the map like mafia families, and since internet access is central to our lives, we tolerate it - the only way out of this shotgun marriage is by purchasing a virtual private network (VPN), which is more secure but costs more each month for a trusted variety.
So now nothing will stop these ISPs from hoarding your data and selling it to the highest bidder, and the repeal also weakens "safeguards against hackers and thieves," as the Washington Post reports.
In other words, your GOP congressman just decided that he can compromise your privacy because some corporate colossus should be able to profit off it without your consent.
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And with people linking everything from security systems to refrigerators to the internet nowadays, these ISPs only have deeper knowledge of consumers.
The mostly party-line vote suggests that Republicans don't regard this as a violation of privacy, though we noticed that none has offered to turn over his own browsing history since Tuesday's vote.
The statement issued by Rep. LoBiondo (R-2nd Dist.) was typical: He noted that the Obama rule was allowing "companies like EBay and Netflix" to store information, but "your internet service provider, like Comcast or AOL, could not participate in the same practice. To me this was a fairness question."
It's also fair to say the GOP cannot distinguish apples from oranges: AOL is not an ISP; it is a media company and search engine.
It's also laughable to imply that telecom titans like Comcast - which made $56 billion in gross profits in 2016 - have somehow fallen on hard times.
It is undetermined how their constituents feel about this shameless sellout, but here's a clue: Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6th) said his office received one call in favor of the bill (one) and 159 screeching objections - 84 emails, 75 calls.
But while nothing can stop the rule repeal as it awaits Trump's signature, voters might want to ask their representative to turn over their browser history and take the locks off their doors. They have forfeited the right to decide whether it's anyone else's business.
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