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Sonic.net's CEO On Why ISPs Should Only Keep User Logs Two Weeks
Sparrowvsrevolution writes "Dane Jasper's tiny Internet service provider Sonic.net briefly took the national spotlight last October, when it contested a Department of Justice order that it secretly hand over the data of privacy activist and WikiLeaks associate Jacob Appelbaum. But Sonic.net has actually been quietly implementing a much more fundamental privacy measure: For the past eighteen months it's only kept logs of user data for two weeks before deletion, compared with 18 to 36 months at Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner and other ISPs. In a lengthy Q&A, he explains how he came to the decision to limit logging after a series of shakedowns by copyright lawyers attempting to embarrass users who had downloaded porn films, and he argues that it's time all ISPs adopt the two-week rule."
European law forces ISPs to retain traffic data for half a year. Germany is the only state currently refusing to implement the law, but I don't have any illusions that this will last.
Dane's a good guy. I had a creative writing class with him 15 years ago. He chooses to pay his people well AND provide less expensive service to his customers. I'm sure there's not much left over for him.
have you checked sonic.net's prices?
For those who argue that they have nothing to hide, I suggest they read Daniel J. Solove's "I've Got Nothing to Hide and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy" for a succinct explanation of the issues.
For those with more detail-oriented interests, I suggest picking up a couple of his books on the issue of Privacy. A partial list can be found at his website.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
I'm a network analyst for a Rual ISP, and we keep DHCP logs for 1 month, pending no DMCA request. If we do receive a DMCA request we look up the customer's DHCP records, and record a separate log containing only that customers DHCP records; flushing the remaining logs.
Unlike larger ISP's, we don't turn over anything unless it's a court ordered.
Oh, and we don't forward on those drive-by copyright infringement notices from copyrightsettlements.com, but we do retain them for legal reasons, but nothing emailed to us is considered a valid request unless it is snail mailed via certified mail.