Call Your Senators Thursday Morning to Save Your Privacy

Congress is getting serious about taking away your online privacy. We have to get serious about stopping them.

The Senate is going to vote on Thursday on a measure from Sen. Jeff Flake and Rep. Marsha Blackburn that would repeal the broadband privacy rules passed by the FCC last year. According to at least one of the measure’s co-sponsors, it will likely have the votes it needs to pass in the Senate unless we take action right now.

Those rules were a huge win for consumers, and—if Congress doesn’t get in the way—they’ll protect Internet users from creepy tracking by their ISPs when they go into effect later this year.

As we’ve argued, repealing the FCC’s privacy rules is a bad move for consumers. If Congress repeals the rules, your ISP will be able to sell records about what you look at, what you purchase, and who you talk to online. The FCC may not be able to write new privacy rules, and, because of the current legal landscape, it’s not clear that any federal agency would be able to step in and protect consumers when ISPs violate their privacy.

Now is the time to act. Call your lawmakers and tell them to oppose the resolution to repeal the FCC’s privacy rules.