Maine lawmakers pass bill to prevent ISPs from selling browsing data without consent

guest · May 30, 2019

Maine lawmakers pass bill to prevent ISPs from selling browsing data without consent
May 30, 2019
https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/30/maine-internet-history-data/

Good news!
Maine lawmakers have passed a bill that will prevent internet providers from selling consumers’ private internet data to advertisers.

The bill, if signed into law by state governor Janet Mills, will force the national and smaller regional internet providers operating in the state to first obtain permission from residents before their data can be sold or passed onto advertisers or other third parties.
Maine has about 1.3 million residents.

In its latest remarks, the ACLU — which along with the Open Technology Institute and New America helped to draft the legislation — praised lawmakers for passing the bill, calling it the “strongest” internet privacy bill of any state.

“Today, the Maine legislature did what the U.S. Congress has thus far failed to do and voted to put consumer privacy before corporate profits,” said Oamshri Amarasingham, advocacy director at the ACLU of Maine, in a statement.
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ACLU: Don’t believe the corporate interests. Maine really does need an ISP privacy bill

reasonablePrivacy · Jun 2, 2019

That's great.

guest · Jun 3, 2020

Access Now and partners defend Maine broadband privacy law
June 1, 2020
https://www.accessnow.org/access-now-and-partners-defend-maine-broadband-privacy-law/

Today, Access Now and New America’s Open Technology Institute, represented by Georgetown Law’s Institute for Public Representation, filed an amicus brief in the internet service providers’ (ISPs) challenge to the Maine broadband privacy statute. The brief is in support of the state of Maine and of upholding the statute.

The amicus brief argues that ISPs continue to hold a privileged position on the network that gives them access to extensive information about their customers, who must share this information with their ISP to use the service. The data ISPs hold (like browsing and app usage history) is personal, private, and could be reused for potentially harmful purposes. Thus, regulatory intervention is necessary to protect user data from abuse.

“Maine’s broadband privacy law is eminently reasonable given the extent to which ISPs have access to customer data and the nefarious purposes for which that data could be leveraged,” said Eric Null, U.S. Policy Manager at Access Now.
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[...] Maine was the only state to successfully pass an ISP privacy law. Of course, ISPs challenged the law on a variety of bases, including that it is unconstitutional, preempted, and unnecessarily singles out and burdens the broadband industry.
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guest · Jul 8, 2020

Does First Amendment let ISPs sell Web-browsing data? Judge is skeptical
Maine privacy law survives initial ruling on free-speech and preemption claims
July 7, 2020
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...ps-sell-web-browsing-data-judge-is-skeptical/

The broadband industry has lost a key initial ruling in its bid to kill a privacy law imposed by the state of Maine.

The top lobby groups representing cable companies, mobile carriers, and telecoms sued Maine in February, claiming the privacy law violates their First Amendment protections on free speech and that the state law is preempted by deregulatory actions taken by Congress and the Federal Communications Commission.
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The case is not over, but the ruling today by Judge Lance Walker in US District Court for the District of Maine dealt a major blow to the broadband industry's lawsuit.

"While Judge Walker allowed the broadband industry's argument that the Maine law violates the First Amendment to proceed, he ruled that the law is not unconstitutional on its face and clearly expressed skepticism that the industry would succeed at trial," Gigi Sohn, a consumer advocate and former Obama-era FCC official, said today.
Sohn said that if ISPs "prevail at trial and beyond, the future of national and state privacy laws will be at risk, as will nearly any attempt to protect consumers and competition in the broadband market." But she called today's ruling "a good first step towards deflating the providers' 'shoot-the-moon' attempt to use the First Amendment as a deregulatory tool."
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guest · Jul 10, 2020

Maine Broadband Privacy Law Passes Early First Amendment Test
July 9, 2020
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/07/maine-broadband-privacy-law-passes-early-first-amendment-test

When you send an email or browse the web, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) may track what sites you visit and when, as well as any unencrypted information you read or send. So Maine requires ISPs to get their customers’ opt-in consent before using or disclosing this and other personal information.

This week, a federal judge rejected the ISPs’ initial legal attack, denying their motion for judgment on the pleadings. This is great news for internet users in Maine. For now, the Maine law, and its important privacy protections, will stand, even as the case moves on to its next stage.
The court explained that the Maine law triggers at least some First Amendment review, because “creation and dissemination of information is speech within the meaning of the First Amendment.” We agree.
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The case is called ACA Connects v. Frey. To learn more, you can read the court’s opinion, our amicus brief, and our earlier blog post explaining our amicus brief.
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