Dane Jasper doesn’t want to know what you do on the Internet. Like many digital privacy proponents, Jasper, the CEO of Sonic, a high-speed Internet service provider based in Santa Rosa, was disheartened by moves in Congress this week to undo a nascent set of regulations that affect companies like his.

On Tuesday, the House narrowly voted to scrap rules intended to force Internet providers to get permission from customers before collecting and selling customers’ data.

Trade associations representing major telecommunications companies and the advertising industry applauded the move. They had lambasted the regulations since their inception, saying that they unfairly undermined Internet providers’ ability to compete against the likes of Google and Facebook, which pocket billions of dollars a year by profiting from their users’ data.

But despite the potential to tap into a lucrative revenue stream, Jasper and executives at other Internet providers across Northern California say they remain deeply averse to trafficking in such data. As consumer awareness about digital privacy continues to expand, it’s a stance that could help smaller Internet providers distinguish themselves from their competitors.

“Consumers are always making decisions based on their personal values, and it’s certainly my hope that we are able to differentiate ourselves in this way,” Jasper said. “But this isn’t a new marketing strategy — this has long been a set of values we’ve held from the start.”

“People trust us with their private use of the Internet,” he said. “They trust that we’re not going to snoop on their activities and that we’re not going to sell them out. It’s entirely a violation of that fundamental basis for the relationship.”