“Earlier this week, the Republican-led Congress voted to repeal FCC rules that blocked ISPs from selling your data to third parties without permission,” Evan Dashevsky writes for PC Magazine. “The vote largely fell along party lines, and President Trump is expected to sign the joint resolution, S.J. Res 34.”
“Just about all your online data is automatically scraped, organized, and sold to advertisers so they can micro-tailor their sales pitches. This very profitable business model is how Google and Facebook have amassed astounding fortunes despite the fact that they give their products away for free,” Dashevsky writes. “And now your ISP can get in the Big Data game as well.”
“New FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the move reverses ‘privacy regulations designed to benefit one group of favored companies over another group of disfavored companies,'” Dashevsky writes. “The subtext of the chairman’s comment being that he believes the previous administration crafted rules to support Democratic-friendly Silicon Valley companies like Facebook and Google, while blocking out less-favored corporations like home cable/internet providers.”
“One of the best ways to secure your data is to use a virtual private network (VPN), which provides greater control of how you’re identified online. Simply put, a VPN creates a virtual encrypted ‘tunnel’ between you and a remote server operated by a VPN service,” Dashevsky writes. “All external internet traffic is routed through this tunnel, so your ISP can’t see your data. If the site you’re heading to uses HTTPS, your data stays encrypted, too. Best of all, your computer appears to have the IP address of the VPN server, masking your identity.”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Google’s loss of influence over the U.S. federal government is a Very Good Thing™ for competition.
We use TunnelBear’s VPN service (especially while using public Wi-Fi) and they offer unlimited data for $49.99 billed yearly which is less than $4.17/month.
SEE ALSO:
Why Congress’s rejection of proposed FCC data rules will not affect your privacy in the slightest – March 31, 2017
Congress to US citizens: Online privacy isn’t dead, those who want it will just have to pay for it – March 30, 2017
U.S. Congress sends repeal of FCC broadband privacy rules to President Trump for signature – March 29, 2017
Congress votes to repeal FCC Internet privacy rules – March 28, 2017
U.S. Senate votes to overturn Internet privacy rules – March 23, 2017—
Under President Trump, Obama ally Google may face policy setbacks, including roll back of so-called ‘net neutrality’ rules – November 18, 2016
Google’s Eric Schmidt wore staff badge at Hillary Clinton’s ‘victory’ party – November 16, 2016
WikiLeaks emails show extremely close relationship between Clinton campaign and Google’s Eric Schmidt – November 1, 2016
Congress launches investigation as Republicans claim Obama had ‘improper influence’ over so-called ‘net neutrality’ – February 7, 2015
Eric Schmidt-backed startup stealthily working to put Hillary Clinton in the White House – October 9, 2015
Google outfoxes U.S. FCC – April 17, 2012
Consumer Watchdog calls for probe of Google’s inappropriate relationship with Obama administration – January 25, 2011
FCC cites Android ‘openness’ as reason for neutered ‘Net Neutrality’ – December 22, 2010