Collapse of California bill to protect internet users would be awful

Americans are divided on many major issues, but not on internet privacy. A recent Consumer Reports survey showed 92 percent of those polled said internet service providers should only be able to sell records of customers’ browsing habits with their permission. Nevertheless, this spring, Congress approved and President Donald Trump signed a law rolling back regulations approved under the Obama administration, thus allowing telecom firms like AT&T, Charter, Comcast, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon to sell information about internet users as they see fit.

At least initially, the California Legislature considered this unacceptable. Assembly Bill 375, introduced by Assemblyman Ed Chau, D-Monterey Park, would require internet service providers to get customers’ permission before they could sell browsing data. It passed the Assembly on a 77-0 vote in May and was approved by two Senate committees last month, with changes made in the bill language that mean the Assembly needs to consider Chau’s measure once again. But the bill appears to have stalled in the Senate Rules Committee, which is chaired by Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León. A July editorial in The Sacramento Bee raised the possibility that state lawmakers are cowed by telecom lobbyists.

This shouldn’t be a close call for de León or any lawmaker. Californians — Americans — have a completely reasonable expectation of privacy when using the internet, and they pay plenty for the service. If the AT&Ts of the world resent that Facebook and Google can monetize information on their users’ online habits but ISPs can’t, tough luck. Only when these companies provide free services — like Facebook and Google — will they have any case at all.