Several days ago, the House of Representatives in the US passed a resolution in which it overturned an FCC rule during the Obama administration that protected customers’ privacy, where if a US internet service provider (ISP) wanted to sell a customer’s browsing data, they would have to get the customer’s permission first.This basically means that ISPs now have the freedom to sell your browsing data if and when they please without your explicit permission. Naturally this is a huge privacy nightmare, but the good news is that the major ISPs in the US, such as Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon have since reassured their customers that this will not be the case.
According to Gerard Lewis, Comcast’s chief privacy officer, “We do not sell our broadband customers’ individual web browsing history. We did not do it before the FCC’s rules were adopted, and we have no plans to do so.” Verizon spokesman Richard Young also confirmed that they do not and will not selling personal web browsing data, with AT&T echoing those comments by saying that they “will not sell your personal information to anyone, for any purpose. Period.”
Of course given that the new resolution means that they don’t need your permission, these ISPs could very well change their mind in the future for all we know, but we guess US internet users can rest assured that their privacy is safe, for now.