ST. PAUL – Today in the Jobs and Energy Committee, Representative Paul Thissen (DFL-Mpls) will offer an amendment requiring internet service providers (ISP) who use equipment subject to a franchise agreement, right of way agreement or other contract with the State of Minnesota or local unit of government to obtain a consumer's explicit consent before selling or sharing Web browsing data and other private information with advertisers and other companies. In the last week, the United States Senate voted to eliminate broadband privacy rules that would have required ISPs to get consumers' such explicit consent. Rep. Thissen released the following statement
"We shouldn't put the bottom line interests of big business ahead of the privacy interests of Minnesotans. Unfortunately, that is exactly what is happening in Washington, D.C. right now. If Congress won't protect our rights, then the Minnesota legislature must. This is a common sense amendment that empowers ordinary Minnesotans to protect their own privacy."
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