FCC votes to help poor people buy broadband and protect privacy online
3-2 votes anger Republicans after last-minute compromise is dropped.
OK… to be clear it wasn't a slam dunk. Democrats approved it and unsurprisingly Republicans voted against it… because fuck poor people ya know?
The new FCC initiative will provide subsidies for low-income households to be able to get online. This is a big deal because for many that’s the difference between internet access and living off the grid. In addition to the subsidies the FCC also looked to make it so service providers can't just blanketly sell all your info. The proposal would require fixed and mobile Internet providers to seek permission from customers before using their private information for certain marketing purposes. ISPs could only share a subscriber's Internet usage habits with advertising companies or other third parties if the subscriber opts in to such usage, and they would not be able to serve targeted ads to customers based on their Web browsing habits without first obtaining opt-in consent.
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