Trump Supportive of Privacy CRA Effort, Spicer Says
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said President Donald Trump backs the Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval to kill FCC ISP privacy rules, now cleared by both chambers of Congress. “The White House supports Congress using its authority under…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
the Congressional Review Act to roll back last year’s FCC rules on broadband regulation,” Spicer told reporters. "This will allow service providers to be treated fairly and consumer protection and privacy concerns to be reviewed on an equal playing field." Trump "pledged to reverse this type of federal overreach in which bureaucrats in Washington take the interests of one group of companies over the interests of others, picking winners and losers," Spicer said. He said the previous FCC had wrongly decided to treat ISPs differently than edge providers like Google and Facebook, reclassifying them as “common carriers, much like a hotel or another retail outlet" subjecting ISPs to "an unfair regulatory framework.” An administration spokesman didn’t say when the president will sign the bill but pointed to Spicer’s statement. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, issued a statement Wednesday defending his vote in favor of the CRA resolution, nearly a week after the Senate’s 50-48 vote. “I understand the importance of privacy protections for internet users, and I support a uniform set of rules for how companies handle consumers’ information,” Grassley said. “Unfortunately, this last-minute FCC regulation created a false sense of security for consumers because it established a double standard for how companies protect personal information. Without uniform protections, consumers might think they are protected when they actually are not. Consumers deserve clarity on how their personal information is protected.” The Democratic National Committee sent an email blast Wednesday fundraising off the GOP votes in favor of the CRA item: “Show Republicans you won’t let them get away with violating your privacy.” Republicans and ISP industry officials said the CRA disapproval resolution would do nothing other than maintain what has been the status quo on privacy for the past several months. The House Democratic petition asking Trump not to sign the CRA item (see 1703290067) acquired close to 2,000 signatures in its first 24 hours. “Overwhelming majority of Americans believe that their private info should be just that -- private -- and not for sale without their knowledge,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., tweeted Thursday. “That's why @SenateDems came together to write @POTUS urging VETO of #BroadbandPrivacy resolution.” The issue was featured Wednesday on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.