• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, July 11, 2017

A proposed broadband privacy law in California "is completely unnecessary and would be counterproductive to the entire online ecosystem," the Association of National Advertisers says in a letter to state lawmakers.

The bill, introduced last month by State Assemblyman Ed Chau, aims to restore the Federal Communications Commission's nationwide broadband privacy rules. The measure would require broadband providers to obtain people's explicit consent before drawing on their online browsing history for behavioral advertising.

Last week, the bill was referred to three separate committees -- Business, Professions and Economic Development; Judiciary; and Energy, Utilities and Communications. All of those committees are slated to hold hearings on the bill next week. If the three committees don't clear the bill next week, the measure will likely die -- at least for this year.

The ANA argues in a letter to lawmakers that the bill would "upend over a decade of privacy precedent" by treating "sensitive" and "non-sensitive" information equally.

"This approach would treat a person’s medical history in the same way as information about her pizza topping preferences. That surely will not further the growth and development of Internet services, or consumer’s use of them," Keith A. Scarborough, ANA senior vice president for government relations, writes.

Currently many online companies -- including publishers, search engines, social networks and ad companies -- only seek users' opt-in consent before serving ads based on a narrow category of "sensitive" data, like financial account numbers, or health information.

But privacy advocates have argued that broadband providers should be subject to tougher privacy standards than other types of Web companies. Among other reasons, advocates say Internet service providers are uniquely positioned to capture comprehensive consumer data, because only ISPs have access to all unencrypted sites visited by subscribers.

The ANA also criticizes the proposed California bill on the grounds that it would subject consumers "to annoying and unnecessary notices requesting opt-in consent whenever they search online or click on a website."

The ad group additionally argues that the bill would create "a hodgepodge of conflicting and confusing requirements for ISPs who invest in California by imposing a very different and confusing set of requirements than those found in any other state."

Chau's bill is backed by digital rights groups and has been endorsed by several California newspapers, including the Sacramento Bee, San Diego Union Tribune and Press Democrat. 

The FCC's privacy rules, which were repealed by Congress earlier this year, would have required broadband providers to obtain subscribers' explicit consent before using their online browsing history for behavioral advertising. A large majority of the public appeared to support those regulations. An April survey by Huffington Post and YouGov showed that more than 70% of Republicans and Democrats wanted Trump to veto the repeal.