The bill in question

Argument for:

Many Republicans saw these new rules as a power grab during the closing days of the Obama Administration. The rule was issued on December 2, 2016 and took effect on January 3, 2017, less than three weeks before President Trump took office. Supporters of the bill argue that the legislation would prevent the one-size-fits-all regulation.

“Under the FTC’s watch, our internet and data economy has been the envy of the world. The agency’s evidence-based approach calibrates privacy and data-security requirements to the sensitivity of information collected,” Senate lead sponsor Flake wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

“The FCC rules subject all web browsing and app usage data to the same restrictive requirements as sensitive personal information. That means that information generated from looking up the latest Cardinals score or checking the weather in Scottsdale is treated the same as personal health and financial data.”

ISP companies also contended that the FCC rules have placed them at a disadvantage with other non-ISP Internet companies that also collect user data, like Netflix or Facebook.

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Argument against:

Privacy advocates warn that the legislation could produce dire consequences for consumer privacy, with Privacy News Online calling it “a bill to let telecoms sell your private Internet history.”

“Its goal is to remove all the hard-earned net neutrality regulations gained to protect your internet history from advertisers and and worse,” they wrote. “Specifically, the FCC had been able to prevent internet service providers (ISPs) from spying on your internet history, and selling what they gathered, without express permission. This legal protection on your internet history is currently under attack thanks to these 24 Senators and lots of ISP lobbying spend.”

That’s not false, as ISPs have been previously shown to sell user data to third parties, who in turn use it for marketing or other purposes.

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My two cents:

As a foreword, I'll say that I would have no issue with a bill to prevent all companies, ISP and websites, from collecting your data.

Why I support the bill, though, is different. As it stands, every website/app/etc that you use has the right to collect and sell your private data (with a few exceptions, medical data and whatnot). That means Google, Facebook, that farming app on your phone, all legally allowed to collect and sell. Keep in mind that it's neigh impossible to use the internet without websites and apps, and with a relatively small demand for websites that don't collect and sell, a relatively small supply has appeared.

This bill offsets the late-January FCC rule preventing ONLY ISP's from collecting and selling your data. Not the rest of the internet. In my humble opinion, the government shouldn't allow some companies access to your data, while restricting other companies access to that same data. Also worth noting that you can opt out of your ISP's data collection should you choose. The government isn't here to play favorites, nor should it be here to consolidate money and power to companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter.

The free market has a way of working things out. Should the demand for privacy increase to the point that it's economically viable for an ISP to advertise that they don't collect any of your data, it will happen. Should you be out there redpilling people about their privacy until that demand is met? Absolutely.

Obviously this is a devisive issue on this subreddit, and I've noticed enough that I felt it's worth a sticky to discuss.

Let me reiterate, because people don't seem to be reading the text that isn't big and bold. ISPs are required to let you opt out (though they make it difficult to find out how).

The December rule makes the collection data requiring and Opt-In, while the bill requires an Opt-Out (like websites do)