Maine votes to prevent ISPs from selling subscriber data without permission

[robkelk]

The Register: Wow, talk about a Maine-wave: US state says ISPs need permission to flog netizens' personal data

The bill passed the Maine senate unanimously.

The bill covers a range of customer information, including contact details such as addresses and phone numbers, as well as their internet usage details: think browsing and app history, geolocation coordinates, MAC numbers, and IP addresses.

Additionally, the proposed law forbids ISPs from charging customers a penalty or offering them a discount on their service based on whether or not they opt in to having their data sold to advertisers.

It still has to be signed by the Governor, but it passed the Maine senate unanimously. I don't see a refusal to sign happening here.

[hazard]

Is Maine an all Democrat state legislature? Or is this actually a sign of the incoming end of the world given that the major parties in USA politics actually agree on something?

EDIT: Having read the law, it seems to me that the major flaw is that this only affects broadband service providers. Dial up is explicitly not included. Although they may be covered under a different law already.

[robkelk]

Wikipedia says two-fifths of the Maine Senate is GOP.

[classicdrogn]

Leading the nation in more than just sunrise times, it seems. Sad that there's faint hope of it catching on more generally, but stranger things have happened.