Newhouse sold out internet consumers

On March 28, Rep. Dan Newhouse, ignoring pleas from many constituents, joined with 230 other Republicans to pass a bill allowing internet service providers to collect information on all our internet use, and barring the Federal Communications Commission from regulating use of this information.

Until April 2, internet users were customers of the telecommunications giants – who were doing quite well with that arrangement. In 2016 AT&T, ranked 10th on the 2016 Fortune 500 list, had revenues of $147 billion; Verizon, ranking 13th, raked in $132 billion. On April 3, when the bill was signed, we became commodities. The telecommunication giants can now legally track and sell the information on where and when you browse or use apps, the sites you visit and how often you use them.

Why would our representative vote against our privacy? In a March 30 interview with the Tri-City Herald, Rep. Newhouse noted the privacy-protecting rules he helped eliminate failed to cover social media and other activities that gather and collect sensitive information. It seems to me that adding privacy protections – not eliminating them – was the solution to the problem he described.

One motivation for his vote might be related to campaign contributions doled out by the telecommunication giants, who contributed $10,000 directly to Rep. Newhouse’s 2016 campaign, but that is only part of the story. Rep. Newhouse also received a total of $55,139 from 15 political action committees that, in turn, had collectively received $619,650 from the telecommunications industry. This information is freely available from campaign financing reports filed with the Federal Elections Commission.

During Rep. Newhouse’s first term in office (2015-16) the telecom giants spent over $98 million lobbying Congress and made $21 million in contributions to campaigns for federal offices. No wonder they just got the law they wanted.

Gina McCoy

Winthrop