A new bill signed by President Donald Trump earlier this month will overturn Federal Communications Commission regulations passed last year regarding internet privacy and collection of user data.
That means internet service providers can collect data without consent, Bernhard Debatin, a professor for multimedia policy at Ohio University, said.
"I'm not just talking about your personal data when they bill you, I'm talking about your user data like when do you surf the internet, where do you go, how do you do it ... pretty much your whole behavioral profile," he said.
Debatin graded the bill as an F, pointing out there isn't even an opt-out system.
"Usually the gold standard in privacy is opt-in, which means if you are a company, you have to ask me to do that," Debatin said. "In this particular case, you don't even have an opt-out, so this is like a full F on the grading scale."
Debatin was also concerned because the bill will allow internet service providers to sell the data to third party companies without compensating users.
"Collecting data commercially and aggregating data commercially has become a huge business," he said. "Your data are very valuable."
Ryan Evans, president of OU College Republicans, also said he was against the bill.
"I am totally for privacy on the internet," he said. "I don't think it's right for ISPs to take our information and sell that information out. ... You, as an individual, have a right to privacy and you should be able to opt in."
Evans pointed out although he was generally opposed to the bill, there were a few positives to it.
"Facebook and Google are already taking your information," Evans said. "On a business or a corporate standpoint, at least it levels the playing field so Google and Facebook don't have such a control over data storing."
Debatin said overall he does not approve of the bill, however, there are a few positives such as targeted advertising.
"Targeted ads can be positive, they can be helpful from the business perspective, they are usually a better investment than general ads," he said. "From a customer perspective, it depends a little bit, people have different levels of tolerance towards ads, it's hard to call this positive or negative, it depends on the person."
Some students also said they are in support of the bill, despite the overall negative reactions to it.
"I kind of see it as a good thing," Jacob Fraylick, a freshman studying engineering, said. "There's a lot of stuff going on in the world, especially like Korea ... so national security wise, it's great because we see what people are looking up, like what their internet browsing is."
Fraylick also said he enjoys targeted ads.
"You're looking at ads anyways, as long as it's something you may be interested in, then it's not as much of a waste of time," he said.
Charles Seitz, a freshman studying engineering, also said he supports the bill for national security reasons, but he didn't like that his data could be sold to third party companies.
"I think we need to watch ourselves before we turn into 1984, but if it's a matter of national security I think we need to be safer," he said. "But if third party companies can have their hands on that data, I think that's where we need to start drawing the line."
Although the bill is still waiting to go into effect, Debatin said it will not immediately impact OU students when it does because students typically use OU Wi-Fi, and OU is very unlikely to sell the data.
"I think as long as you have university access, I don't see that as a big problem," he said.
