Maine about to pass Privacy laws re: user info

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Maine about to pass Privacy laws re: user info

tangor

2:44 am on Jun 1, 2019 (gmt 0)

Maine is about to become the latest US state to – and get this – mandate that ISPs obtain subscribers' permission before selling their data to advertisers.

The state's senate this week unanimously passed SP 275, a law bill that forbids broadband service providers from peddling information on customers' browsing habits unless they give their consent first.

The bill covers a range of customer information, including contact details such as addresses and phone numbers, as well as their internet usage details: think browsing and app history, geolocation coordinates, MAC numbers, and IP addresses.

[theregister.co.uk...]

Expected ... since the US Congress failed to address these issues in 2017.

Your internet history on sale to highest bidder: US Congress votes to shred ISP privacy rules
[theregister.co.uk...]

Interesting times ... and sometimes the States have to take the bull by the horns.

Dimitri

12:18 pm on Jun 1, 2019 (gmt 0)

Sounds legitimate to me... but in practice it will end as extra tiny prints, that people will approve without really reading them.

Marshall

11:15 am on Jun 2, 2019 (gmt 0)

Implied "opt in" goes way back to print media. Magazines regularly shared (sold) your contact information. It was up to the buyer to write them and deny them permission which, by law, they had to comply. I have always felt it should be the other way around: you had to give them permission to share your information. One trick I use to do was use a different name for the subscriber, generally one of my pets, and I would know immediately who was selling what. Now, I just use different email addresses. How times have changed.