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Senator Jeff
Flake of Arizona introduced a resolution on Tuesday backed by 34
other senators to undo the regulations under a provision that
allows Congress to repeal recently approved federal regulations.
Representative Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, who chairs a House
panel on telecommunications, introduced a companion measure on
Wednesday. Republicans control both chambers of Congress.
Last week, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission
temporarily blocked some of the rules from taking effect, a
victory for internet providers such as AT&T Inc <T.N>, Comcast
Corp <CMCSA.O> and Verizon Communications Inc <VZ.N>. Consumer
advocates opposed the FCC move.
Under the rules, which were scheduled to take effect last
Thursday, internet providers would need to obtain consumer
consent before using precise geo-location, financial
information, health information, children's information and web-
browsing history for advertising and internal marketing.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, nominated by Republican President Donald
Trump on Tuesday to serve a new five-year term, told a Senate
panel on Wednesday that consumers would have privacy protections
even without the Obama administration rules.
Republican commissioners including Pai said in October the rules
unfairly give websites like Facebook Inc <FB.O>, Twitter Inc
<TWTR.N> or Alphabet Inc's Google unit <GOOGL.O> the ability to
harvest more data than service providers and dominate digital
advertising.
The American Civil Liberties Union criticized Flake's proposal
to undo the rules.
"With this move, Congress is essentially allowing companies like
Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon to sell consumers’ private
information to the highest bidder," ACLU general counsel Neema
Singh Guliani said.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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