Tuesday's decision by the U.S. Congress to invalidate internet privacy rules from the Obama administration has set off a bit of a firestorm. The change, which will allow service providers like AT&T and Verizon to collect and sell customers' information without their permission, prompted ad campaigns from internet freedom groups shaming lawmakers and a small wave of service journalism about VPNs and other privacy tools.
Reactions in certain corners of the internet got hysterical pretty quickly. The creator of Cards Against Humanity said he would buy the browsing histories of Republican lawmakers and post them publicly.
The change won't immediately create a shadowy new market for online voyeurism, but it does serve as a preview for a much bigger policy fight likely to unfold over the next several months. Republicans are expected to use this past week as a template for rolling back rules on net neutrality, the most contentious issue on the menu of internet policy topics.