April 6, 2020 by Tim
Internet Service Providers have filed a new lawsuit in Maine that could open the floodgates for the collection and sale of personal information online. The suit, filed in Maine’s US District Court, takes aim at a 2019 state law that prevents ISPs from selling customer personal information to third parties. The ISPs contend that sale of this information, which includes Internet browsing data, is a form of free speech and is protected under the First Amendment.
This is not the first time courts have considered whether selling personal information counts as free speech. In 2011, the Supreme Court struck down a Vermont law that would have prevented pharmacies from selling data about the prescriptions they fill to drug companies. In that case, the Court found that the law illegally restricted the First Amendment rights of the pharmacies. If precedent holds, things are looking pretty good for the ISPs in the Maine case.
Our take: It’s safe to assume that the Maine privacy case will make its way to the Supreme Court, where the ISPs will probably prevail. This case highlights an unfortunate dilemma. The First Amendment is one of the few components of the Bill of Rights which hasn’t been completely hollowed out, largely because the courts have been broad and generous in their interpretation. However, the leeway given to citizens to express themselves freely also creates room for abuse by big business.
The bottom line is that when it comes to online privacy, we have to assume the worst of the ISPs (and our government). If you don’t want your personal information to be up for sale to the highest bidder, you need to protect yourself. It’s time to look into a VPN to anonymize your browsing traffic, avoid the major offenders like Google and Facebook, and switch to a privacy-minded browser like Mozilla Firefox.
