New FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has said he thinks the FTC should build a framework for privacy rules, while the ISPs and their lobbyists argued the FCC restrictions put them at a disadvantage against companies like Google or Facebook and were confusing for customers.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation and other consumers right groups disagreed, saying that "The rules—which codified and expanded on existing online privacy protections—were passed by the FCC in October of last year and set to go into effect later this year. They would have kept ISPs from selling customers' data and using new invasive ways to track and deliver targeted ads to customers. Additionally, the rules would have required those companies to protect customers' data against hackers.

Tens of thousands of people called on lawmakers to protect those rules, but Republicans in Congress repealed them by narrowly passing a Congressional Review Act resolution.

That measure not only repeals the rules, it also prevents the FCC from writing similar rules in the future, throwing into question how much the FCC can do to police ISPs looking to trade off their customers' privacy for higher profits. Because of the current legal landscape, the FTC can't police ISPs either, leaving customers without a federal agency that can clearly protect them in this space."

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai: