Mills Revives FCC Broadband Privacy Rules for Maine
Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) signed an ISP privacy bill Thursday countering Congress' 2017 repeal of 2016 FCC broadband privacy rules. The legislature last week passed LD-946 on a bipartisan basis, including a unanimous Senate vote (see 1905300049). “Maine people…
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value their privacy, online and off,” Mills said. “With this common-sense law, Maine people can access the internet with the knowledge and comfort that their personal information cannot be bought or sold by their ISPs without their express approval.” The law takes effect July 1, 2020, to give ISPs time to comply, the governor’s office said. Maine’s action got kudos from Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy's Gigi Sohn. “The cable and broadband industry sent a parade of high-powered and highly-paid Washington, DC-based lawyers to Augusta in an effort to defeat this bill, using the same arguments they used to kill the FCC’s sensible and popular 2016 broadband privacy rules,” she said in a statement. “But Maine legislators believed that protecting their constituents’ privacy was paramount and moved expeditiously to do so.” Sohn hopes the state action spurs Congress “to pass long overdue comprehensive data privacy legislation.” The American Civil Liberties Union also supported the bill. The FCC and some national ISP associations didn't comment. A Maine net neutrality bill limiting state contracts is nearing final passage (see 1906040042).