State Legislatures Still Care about Broadband Privacy

When the Republican congress repealed the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) broadband privacy rule in 2017, states acted forcefully: nearly half of all states introduced broadband privacy bills. Unfortunately, with the help of ISP lobbyists making deceitful and misleading arguments, none were successful.

Maine and Montana, however, are now leading the charge. Representative Zolnikov, a Republican Montana legislator, recently proposed HB 457, which passed out of the (Republican-majority) House. It now moves onto the Senate. In Maine, Democrat Senator Bellows introduced LD 946, a bill that lost by merely one vote in the prior session. Both bills took similar approaches to the OTI model bill.

OTI, as a strong proponent of broadband privacy, submitted two letters supporting both bills, and urged the states to pass the bills.

OTI’s Support Letter for Maine

OTI’s Support Letter for Montana