HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	80
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING THE LEGISLATIVE Reference BUREAU TO CONDUCT A STUDY of potential methods for restricting the collection and sale of sensitive consumer data by internet service PROVIDERS AND urging hawaii's internet service providers to voluntarily refrain from such practices.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, the Hawaii Constitution recognizes the right of the people to privacy, and directs the legislature to take affirmative steps to protect their privacy; and

 

     WHEREAS, Internet Service Providers ("ISPs") have the ability to monitor and collect many types of sensitive information about consumers, including their web browsing history, app usage history, precise geo-location, financial information, health information, and even, in many cases, the content of their communications; and

 

     WHEREAS, left unrestricted, ISPs can sell explicitly targeted advertising on their networks via text message, mobile applications, and web browsers, using sensitive information gathered from a customer's unique browsing history; and

 

     WHEREAS, ISPs can share this sensitive information with partner companies, or even sell it to other companies looking to create targeted advertisements; and

 

     WHEREAS, to prevent this kind of exploitative behavior, the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") in October 2016 created rules that, if they had become effective, would have required ISPs to refrain from selling or sharing consumers' sensitive personal data without notifying the consumer and obtaining their prior "opt-in" consent; and

 

     WHEREAS, those FCC rules would have also prohibited "take-it-or-leave-it" offers, also known as adhesion contracts, which currently proliferate throughout the industry, whereby consumers must consent to the commercial use and sharing of their sensitive data in order to receive any service and ISPs can decline to serve consumers who do not consent; and

 

     WHEREAS, those FCC rules would have also heavily scrutinized "pay for privacy" offerings, whereby companies can exact a higher fee from customers who wish to avoid having their sensitive personal data collected and sold for commercial purposes; and

 

     WHEREAS, those FCC rules were never allowed to go into effect, but instead were invalidated by Congress under the rarely-used Congressional Review Act, an action that not only invalidated these FCC privacy rules, but will prevent the FCC or any other federal agency from creating similar rules unless explicitly authorized by Congress; and

 

     WHEREAS, although an injunction that previously prevented the Federal Trade Commission from regulating Internet Service Providers was recently lifted by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the regulatory power of the Federal Trade Commission will never be as robust as that previously afforded to the FCC under Title II of the Federal Communications Act, leaving an important gap in regulatory authority that must be filled by the state of Hawaii; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-ninth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2018, that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to conduct a study on potential methods of preventing Internet Service Providers from collecting and selling the sensitive data of Hawaii's consumers; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs is requested to provide information as may be requested by the Bureau to assist in the timely completion of the study; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that internet service providers in Hawaii, including Spectrum/Charter Communications, Comcast, Hawaiian Telcom, and the major cellular service providers, are strongly urged to protect the trust and privacy of their customers by refusing to exploit personal data for marketing purposes or to generate revenue; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Director of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, and to the Presidents and CEOs respectively of Spectrum Cable, Charter Communications, Comcast, Hawaiian Telcom, CenturyLink, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Internet Service Providers, Consumer Protection, Data