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Republican congressman: Worried about internet privacy? 'Nobody’s got to use the Internet at all'
This might be considered being just a tad out of touch with your constituents. Particularly the ones living in 2017. When challenged at a town meeting on the Republican legislation recently signed by Donald Trump, that rolled back internet privacy Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) had a really bad answer.
“Nobody’s got to use the Internet at all,” Sensenbrenner told the attendee. “And the thing is that if you start regulating the Internet like a utility, if we did that right at the beginning, we would have no Internet.”
“Internet companies have invested an awful lot of money in having almost universal service now. The fact is is that, you know, I don’t think it’s my job to tell you that you cannot get advertising for your information being sold. My job, I think, is to tell you that you have the opportunity to do it, and then you take it upon yourself to make that choice,” the congressman continued. “That’s what the law has been, and I think we ought to have more choices rather than fewer choices with the government controlling our everyday lives.”
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How tone deaf can they be ????
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Hey, James. Welcome to the 21st century. If this guy were living in the 18th or 19th century he might say, "Nobody's got to mail a letter at all." What a dufuss.
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FWIW, after doing a bit of research, this seems like a whole lot to do about nothing.
Most people, when they go on the internet, go to Google or Facebook, or Yahoo and search for stuff. And those companies collect your data on what you are searching for and use it to try and sell stuff to you either directly or through advertising partners.
So how is the ISPs using that same data to sell stuff to you, or sell it to their partners any different?
It would seem to me that the gov't is giving an advantage to one set of companies over another. Is that fair?
I'm sure the issue is more complicated than I'm making it, but I just don't see it.
One last thought - it is very easy to keep your internet browsing history private. It'll cost you about $40 a year, but a VPN service is a cost effective and simple to use tool.