Data Collection Ban for Internet Providers

The Federal Communications Commission has voted to stop Internet service providers from sharing personal user data with third parties. That will mean that consumers are able to stop the companies from using or selling on information such as browsing history or location data. “It’s the consumers’ information,” said the FCC’s chairman, Tom Wheeler, to the Washington Post. “How it is used should be the consumers’ choice, not the choice of some corporate algorithm.” A victory for privacy advocates, certainly. But many Internet providers have criticized the new rules, arguing that they will prevent the use of data for tailoring services to individual customer needs. For services, read ads. As Politico points out, the news is a huge blow for AT&T’s potential acquisition of Time Warner, a purchase motivated in large part by the opportunities it would create for targeted advertising.