Schumer calls on President Trump to veto internet privacy bill

Sen. Chuck Schumer on Sunday called on President Donald Trump to veto a bill that will allow internet service providers to sell customers’ personal data.

Last week the Senate and House passed the measure that would repeal a Federal Communications Commission privacy rule adopted in October requiring ISPs to get customers’ permission to use and share personal information about their web browsing history, children, health, finances, location and Social Security numbers.

“If President Trump clicks his pen and signs this resolution, consumers will be stripped of critical privacy protections in a New York Minute,” Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a news release. He said users’ information should remain private and not be sold without their permission.

“A family’s deeply personal information — like Social Security number, finances and health background — should not be sold to the highest bidder,” Schumer said.

The bill, which the Republican majorities in both houses of Congress passed in a party-line vote, has Trump’s support, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said at a briefing Thursday.

“The White House supports Congress using its authority under the Congressional Review Act to roll back last year’s FCC rules on broadband regulation,” Spicer said, according to a transcript of the media briefing. Spicer said the rules adopted under former President Barack Obama’s administration were “unfair” because they treated ISPs differently from companies like Google and Facebook that sell user information to advertisers.

“This will allow all service providers to be treated fairly and consumer protection and privacy concerns to be reviewed on an equal playing field,” Spicer said.