Comments

1
how did this get through the filibuster in the Senate?
2
Real important work they're doing, fucking over Americans with each and every action they take. #destroyeverything
3
Credit where it's due: Both Reichert and Herrera Beutler voted no.
4
“These rules [privacy regulations] are nothing more than a big government power grab that will hurt hardworking taxpayers"

Invoking big government and taxpayers to enable corporatocracy is the number one rule of freedumb.
5
Well, it is just one big stinking bag of shit today, coming out of Congress.
6
Other than seeing more ads that relate to what we view on the web, this is pretty much the case already.
7
New Rule: If you did not call your Congress Critter to vote NO on this, you don't get to comment.

Anyways, for a price, we can now see anyone's browser history, including:
- what color of sex toy did you look at
- what size underwear you bought
- any health issues you searched about
- whether you asked for help with financial issues online
- whether you're a subversive/leftie/activist

Of course, some technologies will help, but it just got a lot more complicated.
8
Republicans are horrible people.
9
@6 No, it's not just ad targeting. It's much nastier. People don't realize this, but mainstream ad targeting is not done by selling your personal information to advertisers. Instead the advertiser sends in their ad with information saying "show it to this kind of people who might buy this thing", and the ad placement company matches it against the creepy personal information that they hold in-house. They're not going to let that stuff get out, it's their meal ticket. Creepy, yes, but a closed creepy system.

The ISPs don't do ad placement. They're going to get their money for your info by straight-up selling it to the highest bidder. Russian crooks, Canadian crooks, they can't tell, they don't care. And there's no way to scrub your dossier once it's out there. It can come up much later. There are all kinds of scenarios much worse than seeing some targeted ads.
10
"But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother."
11
Whew! Well that's one more problem removed from my table! (gotta look at the bright side.)

Oh hey ScandalMgr @7? Guess what, we *all* get to comment. Why? Because 20 years of data shows that Congress doesn't care what you think.
Professors Martin Gilens of Princeton University and Benjamin Page of Northwestern University looked at more than 20 years of data to answer a pretty simple question:

Does the government represent the people?

The opinions of the bottom 90% of income earners in America has essentially no impact at all.

Put another way, quoting the Princeton study directly here:

“The preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy."
The top 10% on the other hand... quite a significant impact.
12
@3: Reichert and Herrera Beutler only voted "NO" because their seats are vulnerable and the Republicans knew they had enough votes for it to pass without them. No credit is due.
13
Problem is is that this will do nothing. The computer I use has multiple users with differing interests and sites they frequent. I have all ad blockers on and also use privacy badger. I am still trying to wrap my mind around what use this bill will accomplish no matter how nefarious its intents are.
14
VPNs are necessary now, until they block/outlaw those as well. All the cool kids are doing this already (China, No. Korea, et al.)
15
President Trump has just been given a golden opportunity to prove true to his word that he is for the American people, not the elitists. All he has to do is veto this bill, and he will be given begrudging credit from his critics, and his most fervent base will feel he is being true to them and his word.

But I don't hold out much hope.
16
As an aside, if we had a true free market for telecommunications, this could be avoided somewhat by the consumer opting for providers that do not give away or sell private data. But of course, the telecommunications companies engage in illegal collusion practices to avoid free market competition.

Funny how those in government who are always talking about the market don't seem to care about that.
17
Why I block all ads, and won't visit the sites that try to block my ad blockers.
18
@16 Most utilities, including internet access, are natural monopolies due to the cost of infrastructure to operate. There is no free market there. This is the main reason to have ISPs controlled by the public
19
You can buy a year's worth of VPN service for multiple computers and phones for under $40-50 a year, or less. VPNs are great - the external parties only see your secure connection to the routing location, they have no idea what you're actually trying to do or read or anything.

Still most practical for pirating, but you can also pretend the US government cares about your opinions.
20
@19 Government? how quaint. How about your next employer or worse?
21
Don't bother with a VPN. Even using Tor with two VPNs, one on each side of the Tor process, will do nothing. Software like Carrier IQ operates locally, bypassing network obfuscation. Since it doesn't use Javascript, adblockers don't stop it either. The only current solution is to use homebrew software on a cell phone (preventing its local use) and never using wifi (preventing router based use).
22
Of course the libertarians who have taken over much of the Republican party (Paul Ryan is exhibit A) are all in favor of having the economic "rights" of giant corporations trump everything else. It's not a bug, people, this is one of the main feature of this brave new world.

btw anybody noticed that Rand Paul managed to not vote on this. Libertarian freedumb exemplified.
23
@1 - This was "Congressional Review of an agency regulation" under the Congressional Review Act, as such the issue was not eligible for a filibuster. Worse, the Congressional Review Act now bars future regulations in this field, so statute must be changed, rather than just electing a new Democratic President.
24
If Apple would make a super fast giant goversge Sirport router with built in VON I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.