Slashdot Mirror
UK ISP TalkTalk Caught Monitoring Its Customers
An anonymous reader writes "The UK ISP TalkTalk has been caught using a form of Deep Packet Inspection technology to monitor and record the websites that its customers visit, without getting their explicit consent. The system, which is not yet fully in place, ultimately aims to help block malware websites by comparing the URL that a person visits against a list of good and bad sites. Bad sites will then be restricted. TalkTalk claims that its method is totally anonymous and that the only people with visibility of the URL database itself are Chinese firm Huawei, which will no doubt help everybody to feel a lot better (apply sarc mark here) about potentially having their privacy invaded."
Doesn't really sound any different to what the search companies store. Sans encryption, nothing you do on the Internet is private. Caveat Browsor. Or, erm, something.
It's a Unix system - I know this.
It's the only way to be sure. I know of at least one German university which also filters all external web traffic through a proxy which blocks URLs, also supposedly to reduce malware infections. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The same technology which is installed to fight malware is also ideally suited to work as censorship infrastructure. Once it's in place, the operators will undoubtedly be confronted with the question why they only filter malware and not other "illegal" content. Once they've succumbed to that, the list of URLs to block will grow to include "unruly" opinions, videos of police, etc.
End-to-end encryption. Now.
My ISP is often a matter of little choice, if I want to access the internet, I MUST go through an ISP.
I never ever have to go to google or any other domain. It is trivial to avoid any domain I wish, just put it in hosts file with local ip.
Especially since Google doesn't know my personal details. My ISP does.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Isn't passing personal information out for Europe without expressed permission a breach of the Data Protection Act? Though lets face it, peoples biggest privacy concerns here are their porn viewing habits. Perhaps some porn sites should set up shop that show up in the URL history as stocks and shares or Technology News.
Anna.Techsupport032a2.jpg, Anna.Techsupport032a3.jpg
.. Huawei are usually the ones *buying* the stolen corporate data.
Just another reason for normal people to use encryption on everything and look suspicious for not wanting to be spied on.
Presumably they need to capture at least the page that the user is visiting, as checking for malware on just the root of a site is a waste of time. As most sites these days are dynamic they'll also have to capture the parameters in a GET (and possibly POST), so there is every chance they *will* be capturing personally identifiable data.
Are you fucking stupid? You've been shitting all over this discussion with your privacy-violation apologies.
There is legal precedent about getting access to telephone records, or being able to listen in, etc.. There is mandated logging of internet activity. Make phones look superficially the same, but in reality have them work over an IP network, and bang, the old protections are gone. Those who didn't like the old barriers are now happy: businesses get another source of data to make their adverts more convincing, and the state gets to catch people who talk about certain things over the "phone" network. They will parade them as terrorists and how they have protected us all. Please vote again.
At this point you need to trot out some insult to do with tinfoil, because there aren't examples of those offered a power or profit grab and not taking it.