Wisconsin Senate Passes Privacy Restrictions For Internet Service Providers

Wisconsin lawmakers may enact limits on internet service providers’, or ISPs, ability to collect users’ browsing data.

Under the language approved unanimously by the state Senate last week, ISPs would only be able to collect information on browsing history with users’ written consent.

The proposal comes shortly after President Donald Trump signed a bill repealing similar rules enacted in 2016 by the Federal Communications Commission.

Industry advocates say such rules target ISPs while allowing tech companies such as Facebook and Google to collect personal data to develop and sell advertising.

But Barry Orton, professor emeritus of telecommunications at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said internet providers have more in common with utilities than with social media platforms.

“The interesting parallel is cable television,” Orton said. “The cable television provider can’t sell your viewing habits, for example, or even can’t provide that information to anybody without a court order.”

Minnesota and Illinois are among the states considering similar legislation following the federal repeal.

“States have always had the right to have privacy provisions that are more stringent than federal regulations,” Orton said. “And since there aren’t going to be any federal regulations at this point, or at least powerful, enforceable ones, states are starting to step up.”

Senators attached the amendment to a bill expanding Wisconsin’s broadband and technology block grant program, which heads next to the Assembly.

It’s not clear yet, though, whether that chamber’s lawmakers will keep the internet privacy provision in the broader bill or take it up separately.