Democracy Wire

A column in today’s Washington Post by Paul Ohm, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center and faculty director of the Georgetown Center on Privacy and Technology raises more red flags on congressional action this week that would permit internet service providers (ISPs) sell information about the browsing habits of their customers.

While progressive grassroots activists rallied Democrats and some moderate Republicans to vote no on President Trump’s and Speaker Ryan’s American Health Care Act (AHCA) last week, a shadowy network of political advocacy groups headed by Charles and David Koch likely dealt the bill its death blow.

Most Americans are familiar with the grainy images of our nation’s Civil Rights struggles. But behind the pictures of Rosa Parks on the bus and lunch counter sit-ins was something more profound than a seat on a bus or at a restaurant.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes is having a tough time of it. His mishandling of the committee’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election has triggered calls for him to surrender leadership of that probe – and even to give up his chairmanship entirely.

Ever notice that when you go shopping online, ads for whatever you were shopping for show up in your Facebook and Twitter feeds and on other web pages you visit? Action in Congress on Tuesday dramatically increased the likelihood that you’ll soon be seeing even more such ads.

Congress has knuckled under to Big Telecom and Big Cable on internet privacy. If the bill passed today is signed by the president, broadband providers will have free rein to sell user data to the highest bidder - without ever informing consumers.”