GOP Rep. On Gutting Internet Privacy Rule: ‘Nobody’s Got To Use The Internet’ (VIDEO)

FILE - In this July 17, 2013, file photo, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., testifies at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Voting Rights Act on Capitol Hill in Washington. Sensenbrenner, Rep. John Conyers, ... FILE - In this July 17, 2013, file photo, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., testifies at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Voting Rights Act on Capitol Hill in Washington. Sensenbrenner, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., introduced bills Jan. 16, 2014, to update a formula used to require certain states with a history of discrimination to get federal approval before making any changes in the way they hold elections.(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File) MORE LESS
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During a town hall event last week, Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) tried to defend Republican legislation rolling back an Internet privacy rule by arguing that Americans don’t have to use the Internet.

His defense came when a town hall attendee on Thursday asked about the Republican bill allowing Internet providers to sell customers’ browsing history.

“Nobody’s got to use the Internet at all,” Sensenbrenner told the attendee. “And the thing is that if you start regulating the Internet like a utility, if we did that right at the beginning, we would have no Internet.”

“Internet companies have invested an awful lot of money in having almost universal service now. The fact is is that, you know, I don’t think it’s my job to tell you that you cannot get advertising for your information being sold. My job, I think, is to tell you that you have the opportunity to do it, and then you take it upon yourself to make that choice,” the congressman continued. “That’s what the law has been, and I think we ought to have more choices rather than fewer choices with the government controlling our everyday lives.”

Watch the clip via Democratic opposition research firm American Bridge:

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  1. In today’s economic and social world, this is equivalent to saying: You don’t have to drink the water – so why should it be regulated for cleanliness and purity by the government? It’s your choice to drink it or not.

  2. Sensenbrenner is right—as his fellow Republican Ted Stevens pointed out, the internet is just a series of tubes, and who needs tubes on a daily basis besides plumbers?

  3. The derp is deep with this one.

  4. The derp is deep with this one.

    Right to the bottom of the Marianas Trench. He’s saying hi to Jason Chaffetz down there and discussing how people could afford health care if they just didn’t spend money on iPhones.

    unfettered access to reasonably priced toilet paper and toothbrushes.

    Do we really need indoor plumbing? Our forefathers and foremothers got along just fine crapping in outhouses, and they didn’t need the internet to keep them entertained while they voided their bowels—that old Sears catalogue served double duty as reading material and wiping material.

  5. I’ll bet that I’m going to write some code that will call about 50,000 randomly generated, well formed URLs a day, so good luck ferreting out what the real calls were.

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