Dems seek to seize on data privacy as midterm issue

The Hill ^ | 06/17/18 | Ali Breland

[yesthatjallen]

Democrats are looking to seize on growing public worries about data privacy to rally voters in the upcoming midterms.

Tech policy typically ranks low on an average voter’s list of priorities, prompting skepticism that data privacy can rally move the needle in an election.

But in a couple key Senate races in Nevada and Arizona, Democratic campaign groups say public frustration over how corporations are able to suck up increasing amounts of consumer data could make a difference.

They specifically want to use last year’s congressional vote to repeal broadband privacy regulations to attack Republicans.

Only 15 House Republicans voted against scrapping Federal Communications Commission rules that would have prevented broadband companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast from collecting “sensitive” data, including browsing histories, from consumers.

To Democrats, the vote fits perfectly into their messaging as they try to brand Republicans as looking out for corporate interests at the expense of consumers.

And while the broadband privacy regulations didn’t cover internet companies like Facebook and Google, Democrats think the recent fervor stemming from the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal will help further galvanize voters already frustrated about data privacy.

ETC...

[Flick Lives]

Tech policy typically ranks low on an average voter’s list of priorities...

I would imagine. Most people are just trying to make ends meet. I don't think they're too concerned about a ULA agreement on their Blu-Ray player.

[generally]

I did not know that. Especially the part about destroying incriminating evidence.

Thank you for the excellent info.

[ridesthemiles]

I have railed against Facebook with friends for years. They laughed at me.

NOW- I am feeling quite vindicated.

I don’t do ANY on line purchasing.

I don’t do ANY on line banking.

I have heard plenty of horror stories from people about problems with both of the above. One guy has 3 different ‘LifeLock’ systems to clean up his refusal to stop ‘buying things that are free’ online. He thinks that the lady at Wells Fargo has nothing better to do than to clean up his messes.

I hate to think how many entities have his credit card information. He compounds all of this with NOT carefully looking over his statement when they come in. IF he looks at them at all, it is only when he is going to pay them-—at the very last second.

[goodnesswins]

So, you write checks? Or do you pay everything in cash? Just wondering.

[GOPJ]

It’s liberal thugs who run the companies that expose citizens... if this is what dems want to run on they’re bigger fools than I thought...

[ThunderSleeps]

The leftists are so tied into social media, data mining, and government control I don't see how they can approach this from the other side. If they try to make this an issue it is only going to showcase them as the bad actors here.

...

Oh, wait, what am I thinking. They'll simply lie their a**es off, accuse the right of everything they are actually doing, and their MSM lapdogs will conveniently ignore the leftists' participation in these things.

[i_robot73]

Data protection via govt? How ‘bout just keep govt OUT of that loop to begin.

The rest is voluntary; sure, it takes some give/take, but there’s way to do it if you really want (public computers, borrow, etc.)

[Skywise]

To be sure - you can’t delete the information on request IF a court case is already pending/court has ordered the data held. But you can bet that any suave politician will scrub his data before starting the campaign and the investigations ensue.

In my company we’ve set it up so the data is replaced by an ID tag and that tag is in the audit logs. But that only shows that joe schmo had data in the system and when we deleted such data on request but NOT what the data was.

The Wayback Machine has always responsed to take down requests which is why Joy Reid’s web pages showing she’s a homophobe are now gone.

[goodnesswins]

So...I as Joe Schmo citizen can ask the Wayback Machine to take down some of MY past data???

[depressed in 06]

This was something that happened on Bolshie watch.

[bitt]

P

[Zathras]

The Stupid Party strkes again.
I guess I am way too smart for law school as they will hand a diploma to anyone.

[little jeremiah]

Now that their GOOGLE crimes are going under the microscope, they want privacy. FOR THEM!

Too late, aholes!

[Fedora]

Yes, let's go there, Democrats: "In a discussion on encryption and data security, Comey said that Apple and Google’s decision in 2014 to encrypt their mobile devices to improve user privacy angered the former FBI Director. He wrote in the book that the decision 'drove me crazy.' He added that Silicon Valley didn’t engage in 'true listening' with the FBI and said executives 'don’t see the darkness the FBI sees.'": James Comey on Apple and Google's Data Encryption: They 'Drove Me Crazy'