Sen Markey Joins Public Interest Groups in Opposition to Congressional Plan to Kill Online Privacy

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) laid down another marker on the issue of broadband privacy, headlining a press conference with privacy groups vowing to fight Republican efforts in Congress and at the Federal Communications Commission to roll back FCC broadband privacy rules. Sen Markey said that Democrats would wage a historic battle to preserve the rules, as well as the Open Internet order to which it is linked. He called Internet service providers gatekeepers and said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai was doing their bidding by trying to roll back the rules, starting with data security protections. He said that would allow ISPs to ignore best practices and make sensitive information more vulnerable.

“Without the FCC’s broadband privacy rules, broadband providers will be able to sell dossiers of the personal and professional lives of their subscribers to the highest bidder without their consent.‎ We cannot allow the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans to put corporate interests before consumer protections. I will oppose any effort to roll back these important broadband privacy rules, either by Congress or at the FCC,” Sen Markey said.