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Verizon, AT&T, Comcast Say They Will Not Sell Customer Browsing Histories (reuters.com)
Comcast, Verizon, AT&T Inc said Friday they would not sell customers' individual internet browsing information, days after the U.S. Congress approved legislation reversing Obama administration era internet privacy rules. From a report on Reuters: The bill would repeal regulations adopted in October by the Federal Communications Commission under former President Barack Obama requiring internet service providers to do more to protect customers' privacy than websites like Alphabet's Google or Facebook. The easing of restrictions has sparked growing anger on social media sites. "We do not sell our broadband customers' individual web browsing history. We did not do it before the FCC's rules were adopted, and we have no plans to do so," said Gerard Lewis, Comcast's chief privacy officer. He added Comcast is revising its privacy policy to make more clear that "we do not sell our customers' individual web browsing information to third parties." Verizon does not sell personal web browsing histories and has no plans to do so in the future, said spokesman Richard Young.
Verizon does not sell personal web browsing histories and has no plans to do so in the future
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
Never, nope, no way.
*wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge*
THE SOFTWARE, IT NO WORKY!!!
They'll sell them in bulk, not individually. Though, they'll probably make more money data mining than selling. Like how Facebook doesn't sell your data but lets advertisers exactly target the group they want. Technically Facebook didn't sell your data, but to the end user the visible effects are the same.
Google doesn't sell individual user's behavior either, it sells buckets of users it calls audiences. Nobody wants to market to one person anyway.
Saying they won't sell your specific habits doesn't mean shit, they will big data you into buckets like "movie lover", "gadget enthusiast", "jerks it to interracial porn ferociously every sunday". That will get sold and you will be marketed to based on it.
Comcast is known to inject packets into http streams to put up their own messaging, they've done it before. Now they will sell that space / service.
we might give it away in exchange for favors?
Well, one can hope they'll remain true to their word, but I dunno.. it's Comcast.
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
And there I was worried for a second! ...Little weird though that Verizon is included in this statement despite their announced intention to install software on their line of android phones for this exact purpose.
Oh well, it's probably nothing. I'm sure these corporate entities spent millions of dollars lobbying for this exact policy outcome purely for funsies.
I'm also almost certain that this isn't a case of deliberate semantics. Where they'll sell everything else but not your "browsing history."
Well, not THIS year... But once everyone is paying attention to something else, perhaps... Fine print is easily and often changed.
Because they all already do sell it.... well technically not "sell" it but give it freely to "partner" companies.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
First, F you for making so that in order to tell the truth, I end up defending *Verizon*. Please be careful about stating untruths about assholes; I don't like posting stuff that makes Verizon look less bad.
Second, the article you linked to, based on a post the EFF has retracted, does NOT mention browser history.
Third, did I mention RERRACTED.
According to the article you linked to, on one particular Verizon phone you can OPT IN to an app that lets them see which APPS you have installed. Nothing to do with browser history whatsoever, and it's opt-in.
They aren't going to sell your information, that's just ridiculous. They know they'll make way more money if they just lease access to your information. ;)
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Really, we have to sign off on all sorts of stuff to do business with them...
...$$$ to them.
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Your raw data isn't what's sold most of the time. It's insights and scores derived from it algorithmically. These scores and categorisations are their 'corporate opinion', and in the US are protected as free (corporate) speech. With the US law system the biggest threat is being sued for libel, which is why they are very careful to always sell these scores as 'likelyhood', not fact. Although the clients use it as fact all the same. The databroker-market (worth 150 billion in 2015) doesn't sell YOUR data, they sell THEIR data (which is based on your data).
An example is Facebook's data about your interests that advertisers use. Some databrokers have up to 3000 'opinions' for sale, including your 'likely' interests, political affiliation, psychological weakness, medical risks, and so forth.
In Europe it's a little different, especially with the new GDPR privacy law coming up. There what counts as 'person data' has just been expanded. However, much is still unclear.
So in short, this promise is a smokescreen that cleverly builds on a widely held misconception. Why sell the raw product. The market wants the refined product.
Welcome to the reputation economy, where every little bit of data you leave behind is used to rate you. And do realize:
- These scores and ratings will increasingly impact the chances you are given.
- They are not as fair as you think.
A useful FTC report:
https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/data-brokers-call-transparency-accountability-report-federal-trade-commission-may-2014/140527databrokerreport.pdf
Verizon, AT&T, Comcast Say They Will Not Sell Customer Browsing Histories until all the fuss dies down
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
They could still sell our DNS queries....
You said it, but your wording was such that it might be unclear. Google doesn't sell information about users. Google sells ads. The user data their golden egg they keep top secret, and use to sell ads.
It'll just happen to be on the Blu Ray disc that they sold to that nice marketing company.
In the pervious article on this story I asked what it information would be even possible for crowdfunded people to buy.
Apparently the answer is, none. None more information.
So what happens to all that crowdfunded money go now?
I thought it seemed like a scam; even if companies were going to sell anything it would take a long time to ramp up. But it's never too soon to pull money in from suckers, especially overly emotional suckers.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
They're charging for the key to decrypt the data.
No, they won't sell the histories, that's proprietary valuable data. They will sell services based on the results of those histories to third parties though, not to mention the data now being subject to subpoena for legal issues.
No, really. Really. They really won't sell your personal information.
They'll rent it out instead. I promise. Trust me. And believe me, I know about personal information. The best personal information. Beautiful classy personal information.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
You can get pregnant the first time.
Unfortunate but acceptable.
Never trust the government to help.
So you'll rent out my browsing history instead? Please don't. I don't want anyone online knowing anything about my personal life.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
...they will rent them. Anyone who's ever worked in the data industry knows this.
There never really was any regulation. The FCC passed regulations (which many people saw as overstepping their bounds), which would have prevented the ISPs from selling customer data without authorization. This regulation was never enforced. But in effect, it just would have been another line in the TOS that you agree to it, and if you have no other choice for internet service, what are you going to do?
At any rate, it would be an FTC issue, not an FCC issue. All repealing the regulation did was keep the internet functioning the same way it has been since its inception. Ooh, scary, huh?!
Not to mention that the Facebooks and Googles of the world were never affected by this and could still sell any data they wish, so this just levels the playing field between different internet companies who are already doing much more nefarious things with your data.
The point of the incessant media coverage, however, was precisely to piss people off over essentially nothing because they are pushing a political agenda, and sites like this one and many news outlets want to whip up any fervor they can over the Trump administration, essentially numbing people to their wolf crying, so a few years into the administration, they'll have carte blanche to do anything and no one will care, because of "WOLF!!! WOLFFFFF!!!!!!!" every time some non-issue pops up that the mentally ill see as an impeachable offense.
But for a low price, we'll show you how to buy it from the other providers.
Unfortunate but acceptable.
Well, your username checks out.
If you believe this, I have a nice bridge in a city I'd be willing to sell you for just $100.. Since I don't do business (nor will I) with those particular entities, I'm waiting to hear what *my* ISP, Cox, has to say about this "gift" from the jackasses in Congress.. I'll be just as skeptical with them as I am with this crowd...
THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
...honest.
>"Comcast, Verizon, AT&T Inc said Friday they would not sell customers' individual internet browsing information,"
What about Cox?
Not that I believe any of this, anyway....
At least not in a way likely to be noticed without a lot of scrutiny. Of course when I get a call from a telemarketer quoting details only know by my ISP and ask how that is possible, they will say they sold data, but not on me specifically. Kind of like the NSA doesn't necessarily target anyone in particular. Trump may have a point (and hate to say it..). While Trump may have been incorrect (and irresponsible) to say that Presdident Obama specifically ordered a wire tap on his communications (presidents don't do that officially) in theory he could have arranged to troll the data (as Trump knows full well he can now), by access the data that was recorded in the information dragnet. that of course is the constitution violation of such a dragnet. It treats everyone as a criminal until you prove they are not. (and in whose eyes I wondeR). In this case, ISP can sell "bulk data" without selling "you" as an individual. Just watch, it will happen. What I wonder is how they will use this loophole (in their lawyer's eyes) with a straight face. I'll be using VPN for ALL my surfing on principle as Snowden advised awhile ago.
"Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
What constitutes as "individual" browsing history? I guess that means we each all have to get our own internet ISP per person. Will they sell "household" information? Digital fingerprinting is a thing, but not as profound just yet enough to even sell "individual" browsing history. You have a MAC address, but that can be spoofed. And of course they're aren't going to sell browsing histories when they have subsidiaries/3rd party companies to do it for them. It's kind of like how "no kill" animal shelters actually take the animals somewhere else to do it. Always be aware of the technicalities.
Alright, if they don't plan on selling our data, then who wrote the legislation? I seriously doubt that politicians by themselves would write this.
Back in the 1980s, Regan nominated Robert Bork to the Supreme Court.
Some enterprising reporter located a video rental store near where Bork lived and got the clerk to give him Bork's rental records.
Bork had rented--wait for it--Citizen Kane.
Within a couple of months, congress passed a law making it a federal crime to disclose someone's video rental history.
Because, of course, all those congressmen knew than when their own records turned up in the morning paper, it wasn't going to be Citizen Kane, it was going to be Debbie Does Dallas, part XXIII.
We may be seeing the same thing here.
no no, they will just rent out your super cookie info. no info sharing at all.
Omg, stfu. This is not fearmongering. There was a regulation. Whether or not you think it was a worthwhile regulation is another thing. ISPs are pieces of shit. Hell, telecom companies in general are pieces of shit which they have proved time and time again. Every regulation against them is a good thing, no matter how small. This was a case of corrupt politicians getting rid of a regulation that their financiers disapproved of.
BULLSHIT!
This is like Snow White putting Pinoccio's nose in her snatch and saying "LIE! LIE! you son of a bitch!"
The Truth is a Virus!!!
This may be marked as a troll question. I hope not.
It seems to me that this law now makes it clear that such things as browsing history have value. Does that start to raise the question of who owns the copyright of the history in the first place?
If I take a photograph and display it publicly, I still own the copyright. Why isn't the list of web sites I visit copyright by the original author (the person doing the browsing) the instant that it is created?
If my browsing history has value and I own the copyright, then congress does not have the authority to give that copyright to another entity.
Oh wait - looks like the people they bought didn't think about their browser history being part of the fun.
Can't we hold off on not implementing selling them until we get the people who voted for this bill's browser history?
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
just rent out your super cookie info.
Oh sure, they've never sold "individual" customer data, but Verizon & others continue to sell *aggregate* info: you know, because there's not an entire discipline focused on deanonymizing datasets.
At least now Verizon has paid a fine & agreed to make sure that they, first, *dupe* their customers into agreeing to Supercookie injection & tracking.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ve...
Wasn't it Verizon who was putting tracking values into HTTP headers not that long ago that would allow their mobile customers to be individually identified across virtually any site? Even though the spyware thing is false, that doesn't mean they haven't been up to their usual tricks.
Yeah Verizon does set a cookie-like identifier which goes to AOL-owned sites and possibly some other Verizon-affiliated sites. There is an opt-in component and an opt-out component. Verizon customers may want to opt out. More info:
https://www.verizonwireless.co...
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/...
(Note this link is from late 2014 and may be outdated.)
AT&T/Verizon: "Of course we won't sell individual or personal data. Bulk anonymized data is neither individual nor personal. Heheheheheheheheeh"
your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
Ya gotta love it when corporations say "we have no plans to harm kittens" or some such, and ya gotta love it even more when the (way too many for my liking) rubes among the citizenry believe that they won't harm kittens.
If they really meant what they want us to believe they mean, then they would simply say "we promise not to harm kittens, ever". Unless and until they make that kind of commitment, and stop making weaselly references to 'having no plans', their words are utterly meaningless. For that, they may have the steam off my piss - and fuck all else.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
How much is your browsing history worth to THEM?
You are being ripped off every second of every day, so that advertisers can help rip you off even more tomorrow.
I wouldn't trust comcast not to sell my body parts, while I was still using them.
What exactly are they selling? DNS lookups? Deep packet inspection results? Verizon's Super-Duper Cookie tracking? Is there a keylogger on your computer / router? Or is it the times and quantity that your internet is active? (It's 1AM and his wife's laptop has been active in another state. He's suddenly using lots of bandwidth from the 2nd story router. Ergo he's watching pr0n!)
So they're selling / leasing WHAT exactly? Anatomized, stratified, or even Puréed, what do they think they're trying to sell? And how accurate do the buyers think it actually is?
If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
What's wrong with anonymized data then?