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Ask Slashdot: ISPs That Respect Your Online Privacy?

Posted by msmash on from the help-a-man-out dept.

New submitter Rick Schumann writes: According to this story just posted here on Slashdot, Comcast is playing about as dirty as they can get. This is just about the last straw for me; are there any ISPs in the United States that actually respect your online privacy?

91 comments

  1. No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Duh where have you been? Hiding under a rock? They know exactly which rock.

  2. Re: yes, Sonic in californua by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    They are awesome
    www.sonic.net

    They respect privacy, and only the minimum required by law , then delete it

  3. Sonic.net in Northern California by fightinfilipino · · Score: 4, Informative

    they're also loud proponents of Net Neutrality.

    1. Re:Sonic.net in Northern California by Iarwain+Ben-adar · · Score: 1

      Agreed. I can get 5x or better speed on Comcast, but I'm sticking with Sonic for this reason.

    2. Re:Sonic.net in Northern California by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 2

      Why are you implying that "Iarwain Ben-adar", myself (the submitter of this entire subject) or anyone else at all has something to hide and that's why they want their BASIC RIGHT TO PRIVACY honored? As shocking as it might be to you, there is still such a thing as 'principles', and the 'principle' of individual privacy still counts to some of us. Why (apparently) does it not matter to you?

    3. Re:Sonic.net in Northern California by Volda · · Score: 1

      Maybe he wants to be a politician, a teacher, a preacher, have a decent paying job where Joe Schmo with enough money cant pick up every piece of dirt on this person.
      People have no right to know what I do behind closed doors when it doesn't effect anyone else.

    4. Re:Sonic.net in Northern California by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've been filming you every time you leave your house. It's my secret fetish. I love to look at you. Your nose hairs elevate me. I film them and upload them to my computer. If anyone knew what I was doing I would die of embarrassment. But I love looking at your knee warts. Oh love love yum yum. That's my privacy.

    5. Re:Sonic.net in Northern California by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dude, thank you so much. I honestly thought Comcast was my only choice here. And to think, Comcast just sent me a friendly reminder that my special introductory price is about to expire!

    6. Re:Sonic.net in Northern California by XparXnoiaX · · Score: 1

      If you want a good ISP you need to use DSL, where there are plenty of competitors.

      This is strong evidence that lack of competition is the worst thing right now in the cable ISP world.

      --
      Irresponsible disclosure is responsible
    7. Re:Sonic.net in Northern California by TheDarkener · · Score: 1

      I'm fortunate enough to live about 1h from Sonic.net - I've used them for a personal ISP as well as colo/datacenter services. They are absolutely phenomenal. I don't think many people can say they're *proud* of their ISP, but I definitely am. Also, I have an awesome keycard for colo access, get to go through a Star Trek style authentication door (weight + handprint) and can play pinball/arcade machines in their eating area. Their staff is awesome, I feel at home when I'm there among fellow geeks.

      --
      It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
    8. Re:Sonic.net in Northern California by skam240 · · Score: 2

      Sonic is just about everything i want an ISP to be.

      A number of years ago now my Dad was having computer problems not related to his internet connection. Instead of calling me (he's weird with asking for help) he took his computer to a nearby sonic office. After a brief wait in their lobby somebody came out and fixed whatever issue he was having free of charge. They were super nice about it too from what he says. I dont think i've ever even heard of such a positive customer service experience coming from any other ISP before

      --
      I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
    9. Re:Sonic.net in Northern California by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Post a link to a picture containing both your face and your flaccid junk. If you want privacy, you must be doing something illegal.

    10. Re:Sonic.net in Northern California by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In most areas: if you want slow speeds you need to use DSL. Cable's nice if you're coupled with a reliable and truthful VPN (or Tor as a last resort).

    11. Re: Sonic.net in Northern California by TheOuterLinux · · Score: 1

      Those techniques only work when dealing with humans. The Internet is not a steam powered ship. Remember that odds and chance have nothing to do with skill. There's no drawing to see who gets their web history stored today. It's an all or no one deal, unless they figure out a way to charge extra for privacy, which I'm sure most ISP's have nasty EULA's for anyway. Between AI and cloud computing, your browsing history can be easily found and the servers aren't deleting it; your router may actual have web browsing history logs on it too. In most instances, enough unencrypted web traffic cones out of your computer to know what you've been up to. On Linux, you can use (tcpdump -xx -i wlan0) to watch all your internet traffic in realtime but also displays the data coming in and out as more human readable. As someone that manages a website, I can tell you that the tools that are made available to me for digitally fingerprinting people and how no one uses Do Not Track would make you shudder. Fortunately for you all, I quit using Google Analytics a long time ago and started managing analytics with open source stuff on my own databases. I honor the Do Not Track request, but many websites do not. Also, quantum computing is going to come commercially before you know it. Then, with AI installed, we are all screwed.

    12. Re:Sonic.net in Northern California by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

      Among other things, they have no possible way to know whether the people they are tracking are under 13 years old, which is a violation of Federal law.

      As it should be.

    13. Re:Sonic.net in Northern California by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The desire for privacy does not imply having done something wrong.

      You do not believe that it does.

      Tell us why you are perpetuating this lie.

    14. Re:Sonic.net in Northern California by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah well, along with the post-factual world came the post-legal world. Welcome to the future!

    15. Re:Sonic.net in Northern California by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Does NOT matter one single bit AT ALL.
      Unless YOU YOURSELF get up off your ass and go INDEPENDANTLY AUDIT THEM WITHOUT APPOINTMENT, you have absolutely ZERO idea what they are really doing behind the scenes.
      If they won't let you do that, they're lying and you're being fucked.

    16. Re: Sonic.net in Northern California by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That sucks. If it takes one hour for your data to get to sonic.net, browsing the web must take forever.

  4. LOLOLOLOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oops, sorry....

  5. I think first it depends if you have a choice... by dejitaru · · Score: 1

    For example, I have two options, TW/Spectrum with up to of 300/10mbit, or AT&T with up to of 3/?mbit. Sadly no other smaller ISP offers anything reasonably above 10mbit down.

    Just get a VPN.

  6. Utah: XMission by kampf · · Score: 1

    Statement from XMission, a local ISP based in Salt Lake City

    https://xmission.com/privacy-pledge

    1. Re:Utah: XMission by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unfortunately, Centurylink won't let XMission have access to anything over 1.5 Mbps.

    2. Re:Utah: XMission by shadowknot · · Score: 1

      They just put fibre in along my street in Layton but apparently want $5k to run it to my house (about 20 feet) I wonder if they'll let me run it myself?

    3. Re:Utah: XMission by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      XMission doesn't do the fiber; that's UTOPIA, paid for by a group of cities. Layton's one of them, but they'll never get around to the older, poorer, northwestern corner of town where I live. It's a shame.

      If I could get UTOPIA, XMission could be my ISP again.
      XMission was my ISP from 2000 to 2015. I can say only good things about them, but I need more than 1.5 Mbps.

    4. Re:Utah: XMission by shadowknot · · Score: 1

      I'm with Comcast who are nice and quick but I truly loathe them as a company. Not sure where the 1.5Mbps figure is coming from though since they state that they provide a service at 250Mbps to 1Gbps.

    5. Re:Utah: XMission by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      XMission was originally a dial-up ISP, when that's what there was. I signed up in 2000.
      In about 2006 I got 512 Kbps DSL through Qwest, with XMission continuing to be my ISP.
      I later bumped it up to 1.5 Mbps, the max available at the time.
      In 2015 I decided I needed more bandwidth. Centurylink offers it, but only with them as the ISP. Third-party ISPs can't get access to any more than that 1.5 meg. It was a heart-wrenching decision, but I finally left XMission in order to get 12 Mbps.
      Those high speeds are only available through UTOPIA, which as I said, isn't coming to Layton's ghetto anytime soon.

  7. Re: yes, Sonic in californua by DiSKiLLeR · · Score: 1

    Yes, +1 for sonic.net.

    --
    You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
  8. As Dirty As? by Translation+Error · · Score: 1

    Sending a cease and desist letter to a site is as dirty as they can get?

    --
    When someone says, "Any fool can see ..." they're usually exactly right.
    1. Re:As Dirty As? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The metric being discussed is morals, ethics, intentions. I don't normally invite those into a discussion of formal legality. Measuring soft qualities like "intentions" is stupid when establishing a verdict of definitive law.

      But they're quite useful for defending a subjective opinion of someone or some group.

  9. Re:HA! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't believe you It's darn near impossible to get the same rep twice at any large company

  10. I thankfully have a municipal ISP by enjar · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I am in one of the rare US municipalities with a non-profit ISP. It's part of the town power and light company, and they also provide cable and phone service. Prices are fair, service is great and the vast majority of the employees are people who live here. We've had our speeds upped a few times at no additional cost, and we even got a refund on our power bill when the power company ran a surplus.

    When asked about them selling information, the answer was a loud and clear "NO, we never sell information about our customers".

    The downsides of this setup are that the support hours are not 24/7, and some services/equipment can lag. But given that I've not experienced significant downtime in 10+ years, I can deal with it.

    1. Re:I thankfully have a municipal ISP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're RIGHT... they might NOT SELL and might not GIVE customer data to others.
      But they ARE the government and they likely DO keep all that juicy stuff for themselves.
      So UNLESS you can WALK IN and AUDIT their words, their words are USELESS BULLSHIT.
      This is 100% completely true REGARDLESS of who your ISP is.
      In short, you're fucked because you don't get up off your ass and audit weasel words.

    2. Re:I thankfully have a municipal ISP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      enough coke 4 u brah

  11. Frontier Communications by RandySmith6424 · · Score: 1

    I was actually pleasantly surprised. This article made me contact Frontier to see if my ISP was doing anything lame. Turns out they do not throttle anything, but they do prioritize for VOIP and VIDEO because they have higher packet loss possibilities. They also do not monitor or sale any user information. So I guess frontier is pretty good. I pay $64.99 for a 100/100 fiber connection.

  12. Not trying to troll here... serious question: by mark-t · · Score: 0

    Why should ISP's have to respect something that is essentially imaginary, an illusion created only by the fact that in a large enough sea of information, any one person can sometimes be easy to overlook?

    --
    File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
    1. Re:Not trying to troll here... serious question: by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 2

      What I shop for, where I shop, what I buy, where I buy it, what I look at for entertainment, what times of the day I use the internet, what times of day I pay my utility bills, who I send and receive email from, etc etc etc are none of anybodys' gods-be-damned business, that's why. The real question here is: why do you NOT care? Do you like having complete strangers make all sorts of assumptions about you and your life? How would you like it if you were denied employment you're fully qualified for, because they bought collected information about you from ISPs and other websites (because nobody told them they weren't allowed to do that), and they made assumptions about you based on that? What if you were arrested for something you had nothing to do with based on your web browsing habits? What if your health insurance rates go up because they discovered that you occasionally use the internet to order a pizza? I could go on and on. Chances are you'll just scoff at all this as nonsense, but the FACT of the matter is that in a world where you can't even take a shit without some complete stranger knowing about it, you end up not in control of your own life anymore -- even worse than it already is. At the very least the rampant collection of your very personal internet usage fills your email with even more SPAM; do you not care about that, either?

      At least give a damn about this because OTHER PEOPLE give a damn about it. Why should your lack of caring about it mean that everyone else has to put up with shitty companies snooping into our lives constantly? How is THAT right?

    2. Re:Not trying to troll here... serious question: by mark-t · · Score: 1

      I didn't say I didn't care.... I only said that I recognize that any appearance of online privacy one might find only exists because one might not be noteworthy enough to pay attention to in the first place.

      Obviously it is ideal if people do not pay attention to matters that are none of their business, but I can't help what other people do, I can only control my own thoughts and actions and trying to dictate those of others just so that I might be able to feel more secure around them is just so much wasted energy.... effort is better spent on making sure that when you are doing something you want kept private, you have instituted protections of either your own design or choosing that will obscure your activities enough that those who might have otherwise intended to pry will not be aware enough of what you are doing to bother even trying to pay attention.

      --
      File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
    3. Re: Not trying to troll here... serious question: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's simply a lack of respect.
      If you can't understand that then I won't buy from you.

    4. Re:Not trying to troll here... serious question: by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1
      Well guess what? Unless you're your own ISP, with your own connection directly to a totally neutral backbone, you're not in control of ANYTHING you're doing. They can do man-in-the-middle attacks. They can sift through your email. You can try to use Tor or a VPN, and they can write Terms of Service that say you're not allowed and disconnect you if you don't comply. Left to their own devices these companies will do whatever it is they want to do that makes them the most money from the most revenue streams, and they don't give a flying fuck about you, your rights, your privacy, or anything else.

      I can't help what other people do, I can only control my own thoughts and actions and trying to dictate those of others just so that I might be able to feel more secure around them is just so much wasted energy.

      I'm going to be blunt with you, for your own good: That is a cowards' attitude. It is within the power of EVERY CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES to stand up for what's right and speak out against what's wrong, and DEMAND that your will, the WILL OF THE PEOPLE, be done. That's how this country is supposed to work, friend. If you sit back and let them do whatever they want, THEY WILL DO WHATEVER THEY WANT. So show some backbone.

    5. Re: Not trying to troll here... serious question: by mark-t · · Score: 1

      As I don't really have anything to sell, I would think that the statement that you won't buy from me is kind of a tautology.

      --
      File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
    6. Re:Not trying to troll here... serious question: by mark-t · · Score: 1

      Well guess what? Unless you're your own ISP, with your own connection directly to a totally neutral backbone, you're not in control of ANYTHING you're doing. They can do man-in-the-middle attacks. They can sift through your email. You can try to use Tor or a VPN, and they can write Terms of Service that say you're not allowed and disconnect you if you don't comply. Left to their own devices these companies will do whatever it is they want to do that makes them the most money from the most revenue streams, and they don't give a flying fuck about you, your rights, your privacy, or anything else.

      That is, you see, my entire point. Your so-called privacy is an illusion that is only afforded by whatever level of disinterest that others might have in seeing what you are doing.

      I'm going to be blunt with you, for your own good: That is a cowards' attitude. It is within the power of EVERY CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES to stand up for what's right and speak out against what's wrong, and DEMAND that your will, the WILL OF THE PEOPLE, be done.

      What makes any one person's values who is demanding respect for their privacy from others under threat of legal consequences any better than a dictator who is also demanding what others do, also on pain of prosecution... bearing in mind that again, this privacy is entirely illusory to begin with?

      --
      File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
    7. Re:Not trying to troll here... serious question: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      LOL, okay, I get it now:

      "Not trying to troll here"

      Good for you, you got me to take you seriously. Be sure to wash your beach towel once in a while, or do you just use Kleenex?

    8. Re:Not trying to troll here... serious question: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hear that your PENIS is illusory and that you have to sit down to pee. Pity for a male of the species to have to do that!

  13. Wrong Question... by link-error · · Score: 2

        The question should be, "Which is the best VPN service to use?"

    --
    -Unresolved symbol? Byte me!
    1. Re:Wrong Question... by Drakonblayde · · Score: 1

      This is pretty much it. If an ISP is snarfing up your information as it crosses their wire, you'll never know it unless they admit to it.

      Of course then the question morphs into what VPN provider can I trust, since they'd be the ones to see the unencrypted stuff egress and ingress to the tunnel.

      Though I suppose VPN providers do have a more vested interest in keeping their customers data private, since privacy and getting around region locks are the primary use cases for most consumers that employ VPN in a non-work capacity

    2. Re:Wrong Question... by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Anyone with good security and good router setup support. Move all data via the VPN. OS level software e.g. browsers and networks could be requested into giving out a real IP.
      The 5 eye security service are all over VPN users but all network use is now less readable to the ISP.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    3. Re:Wrong Question... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First, you're just passing the buck to the VPN. Second...
      DOES NOT MATTER... UNLESS you can WALK IN and AUDIT their words, their words are USELESS BULLSHIT.
      This is 100% completely true REGARDLESS of what your internet is.
      In short, you're fucked because you don't get up off your ass and audit them.
      This is not a game, shit's got real now, TRUST NO ONE.

    4. Re:Wrong Question... by guises · · Score: 1

      Ideally no, VPNs are a stopgap measure. If you can't trust your ISP, and you can't choose a better ISP, then you've got to pick a VPN and hope that you can trust them instead. This is true for almost all of the United States, which I guess is what you were saying, but... asking which VPN to use is not what the question should be.

    5. Re: Wrong Question... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Go to bed apk

  14. Re: yes, Sonic in californua by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Only issue with Sonic is that they are dependent on (read: held hostage by) AT&T for their "last mile."
    I had an issue a couple of years ago when AT&T would not hold up their end of the bargain to do the physical install at my house. Kept making appointments and missing their windows. Sonic techs would arrive as scheduled and couldn't do their job because AT&T never showed and didn't keep them in the loop.

    I can't prove they were being mendacious, but it sure seemed that way.

    I had no other choice but Comcast, but I resisted them as best I could.

  15. Re: yes, Sonic in californua by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    Checked them. It's 'available' at my address, but apparently they piggyback off of AT&T. How does THAT work? How do I know that AT&T wouldn't be invading my privacy?

  16. Right now, they all do by MSTCrow5429 · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure if your question is serious or not. And no, Comcast, nor anyone else that I know of, has been blocking sites.

    --
    Slashdot: Playing Favorites Since 1997
    1. Re:Right now, they all do by chispito · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure if your question is serious or not. And no, Comcast, nor anyone else that I know of, has been blocking sites.

      It doesn't matter because msmash is busy constructing a narrative. Expect many more stories bashing Comcast (and it's Comcast so it isn't hard to find critical stories, even if the connection to Net Neutrality is tenuous at best).

      --
      The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
  17. Optimum by MikeJones8766 · · Score: 1

    Besides pricing I've never had anything to complain about.

  18. ISP Privacy Pledge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Any ISP on the list here http://www.ispprivacypledge.net/

    1. Re:ISP Privacy Pledge by jms1 · · Score: 1

      I find it odd that a web page containing a list of ISPs who promise to protect their customers' privacy, is hosted on blogger.com, which is owned by Google, who has a vested interest in NOT protecting peoples' privacy. (You can't even view the page without allowing your browser to run Javascript from three different Google domains.)

  19. Lots of choices, but only 2 real choices by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Lots of choices, but only 2 real choices.

    If I can live with 3Mbps/384Kbps, then I have lots of choices thanks to old DSL options. There are 10 DSL options available from a bunch of tiny ISPs.

    If I want 25Mbps/3Mbps [or better], then only 2 choices exist:
    1) AT&T DSL2+
    2) Comcast

    With Comcast, I can get 250/50Mbps for $300/month.
    Larger bandwidth from anyone is not available here, but .25 mile away, there is GigE service for $100/month. I'd be better off finding someone across the road, paying their GigE service and putting up a $1500 Ubiquiti LoS wireless bridge on a mini-tower.

    Currently have 16/3Mbps with Comcast biz for $110/month.

    1. Re:Lots of choices, but only 2 real choices by arth1 · · Score: 1

      I have DSL through a local ISP; a bridged connection that doesn't use the phone company as anything but a simple carrier.
      And cable from one of the big cable guys.
      That way, I can have unrestricted Internet at slow speed, and a filtered, rewritten subset of Internet at high speed. But it's good enough for Netflix without chill.

    2. Re:Lots of choices, but only 2 real choices by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AT&T has been in bed with the Government for over 100 YEARS.
      First they got caught giving all telegrams to the govenment.
      Then they got caught giving all call records to the govenment.
      Just for the asking.
      There is NO privacy with ANY corporation.

  20. Doesn't matter by locopuyo · · Score: 1

    Does it really matter? If you're lucky you have a choice between 2 actual high speed providers, one cable provider and one fiber provider. But most people have to choose from one cable provider, much slower DSL, or wireless.
    If you choose DSL or wireless the speeds are very limiting on what you can do.

    --
    The Official Site of 1337 Pwnage
  21. Re: yes, Sonic in californua by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pretty sure the "minimum required by law" is for them to hand 100% of their data to the NSA

  22. The ISP doesn't matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    when every citizen is a suspect. There will be no privacy, regardless of what ISP you pick, because that's what the government wants. You're all potential terrorists.

  23. None by aglider · · Score: 1

    Easy

    --
    Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
  24. none of them, none of them do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You think ISP's, with their bulldog blackboxes and echelon marching orders can afford to respect your privacy? The time's long gone when that was even remotely possible. Get a VPN, some of those can still offer it.

  25. This is tiring by chispito · · Score: 1

    If you want to beat the Net Neutrality drum, please post stories that are actually about Net Neutrality.

    --
    The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
  26. Ars Technica article about Sonic.net by skam240 · · Score: 2

    Also, here's a nice piece on them from Ars. A little old but relevant.
    https://arstechnica.com/tech-p...

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    I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
  27. Not a valid reason by markdavis · · Score: 1

    >"According to this story just posted here on Slashdot, Comcast is playing about as dirty as they can get."

    Really? Looks to me like they are just sending a cease and desist letter to a site using their name in the domain. We might not like that, but this is not an abuse of power or their position as an ISP at all. They didn't block the site. They didn't flood the site. They didn't slow down the site.

    No ISP (that I know of) is going to support net neutrality on their own volition. They want the power to do whatever they want with data and bandwidth. I don't blame them for wanting to get rid of neutrality, even though I don't like it. I blame the apathetic CUSTOMERS who either don't understand the issues or just don't CARE about their privacy and freedom.

  28. Earthlink by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    As of many years ago Earthlink was pretty good about privacy.

    1. Re:Earthlink by sudon't · · Score: 1

      As of many years ago Earthlink was pretty good about privacy.

      Yeah, back in the days before the internet spy game got started. Then someone decided that everyone ought to be making money off the internet, and the commercialization of the web began. Advertisers taught everyone just how valuable personal data could be.

      --
      -- sudon't

      Air-ride Equipped

  29. The ISP Privacy Pledge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    About two dozen small ISPs (including sonic.net) have signed the ISP Privacy Pledge.

    Does one of them serve your area? Perhaps you should consider giving them your business.

  30. The ISP Privacy Pledge by _ivan · · Score: 3, Informative

    About two dozen small ISPs (including sonic.net) have signed the ISP Privacy Pledge

    Does one of them serve your area? Perhaps you should consider giving them your business.

    Reply to This

  31. Sonic IS pretty awesome, BUT.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They are anti-Tor exit nodes on their network :(

    I seem to remember a few other minor things as well (quotas maybe?)

    Having said that: They have extremely fast service, reasonable prices, good coverage from Petaluma to the North Bay (maybe further now. They had partial coverage near San Leandro last time a friend was looking for an ISP out there. Had to (very reluctantly!) go with Comcast instead since only DSL was offered otherwise.)

  32. Assume none does and act acordingly by williamyf · · Score: 1

    Assume no ISP respects your privacy, and act accordingly.

    Maybe and ISP simply does not respect your privacy, but at least have the decency to tell you to your face, maybe the ISP "Says" it respects your privacy, but behind your back is monetizing your info, maybe they respect your privacy "Today", but are under intense financial/govermental pressure to not respect it in the future.

    So, Once you decide that NO ISP is respecting your privacy (instead of asking on May 23, 2017 which ones do and which ones do not), you can act accordingly, and it does not matter anymore.

    Use services that allow you to aggregate various ISPs (using MLPP) to both get a faster internet AND get the ISP of your scent, then use proxies and/or VPNs to cover your tracks, couple that with anonymizing browsers for an added level of protection. Put all the Browser crap in a RAMDISK for even more protection.

    As a reader of Slashdot, you probably have the technical acumen to do it.

    Yes is a hassle, but your privacy is worth it.

    Or, do as I do:

    I do not assume that my ISP does not care for my privacy...

    I DO KNOW FOR A FACT that my ISP (in Venezuela) does not respect anyone's privacy (and the other ISPs do not do either, I worked at 2, and worked on an Telco Equipment seller to said ISPs, and have friends working on all the other ISPs, is a small country, and a small comunity of Telecom profesionals), but since I do not care that they can see my activities online (which are pretty harmless), I do not care and carry on with my life...

    But, the important point is: Assume that every single ISP does not care about your privacy, and decide from there...

    --
    *** Suerte a todos y Feliz dia!
  33. SDF by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've never tried it myself, but dialup and DSL are offered by the Super Dimension Fortress [sdf.org].

  34. Tor + log-less VPN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't trust ISP.

  35. Re: yes, Sonic in californua by justthinkit · · Score: 1

    I can't prove they were being mendacious

    How about Janus-faced, or perfidious?

    --
    I come here for the love
  36. The very least we can do. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is pretty much it. If an ISP is snarfing up your information as it crosses their wire, you'll never know it unless they admit to it.

    The very least we can do is avoid the ones who admit it! Stop giving them your money for cthulhu's sake.

  37. The ONLY Real PRIVACY.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The ONLY way you will EVER get ANY "internet" privacy in the age of Government and Corporation LIES and TROLLING and REFUSAL to answer to YOU.....

    IS TO BUILD THE INTERNET YOURSELF!!!
    From the ground up, including ALL fiber, routers and services like say a new form of FACECRAP.
    This time doing it in NEIGHBOR to NEIGHBOR P2P encrypted mode.
    Go get your damn shovel and dig one trench to one neighbor,
    and another divse path trench to another neighbor.
    Lay fiber in that shit.
    Connect it to your PC NICS.
    Run BGP.
    Run servers.
    Run apps.
    Run mixnets.
    You're done.

    The fucking Corporations and Government are NOT going to staff up to go secretly dig up and tap fiber in your hood.

    Get rid of Government, it's useless.
    Think about that.
    Do it all yourself, voluntarily, with like minded peers.

  38. Re: yes, Sonic in californua by klui · · Score: 1

    Sonic resells AT&T U-verse through a wholesale partnership with AT&T. Their contract disallows monitoring and usage caps. If you're worried Sonic provides OpenVPN access where your IP will be on Sonic's allocated subnets.

  39. Click! Cable affiliates out of Tacoma, WA by Kargan · · Score: 1

    Click! is a municipal ISP, but sells their service through Advanced Stream and Rainier Connect.

    http://www.thenewstribune.com/...

    --
    Palaces, barricades, threats, meet promises
  40. great idea.. are you related to beauHD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    bad premise, good idea.
    So beauHD what have you gathered from this obviously driven by stupidity, exercise?
    friggin goobers, shame how u all kill the credibility of what once was a great place.
    Any more cans in that 6-pac?? Need some knee pads?

    1. Re:great idea.. are you related to beauHD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      hey bud, thats funny.
      although true. /. used to be a trusted publication of great credibility.

      to bad for BeauHD.
      but, more to the point, how much of whats above is actually true?

  41. Ah... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    hahahahahahahahaha!

  42. CenturyLink by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    CenturyLink believes in "Billing Neutrality": The freedom to engage in "innovative" billing practices.

  43. So What if there is? by bbsguru · · Score: 1
    Bottom line, we only get to choose from the options we have. Those of us fortunate enough to have more than ONE to choose from still have only a choice of those available where we are. And no, I'm not counting "wireless services" as ISP's. No rational person expects privacy from a wireless service anyway.

    Bottom line, if privacy is what you want, use whatever ISP gives you the best service(?), and put everything through the best VPN service you can find.

    Begs the question: Is there a VPN service that absolutely protects privacy?

  44. TekSavvy in Ontario by davecb · · Score: 1

    Forced copyright trolls into court, very much against their will (;-))

    --
    davecb@spamcop.net
  45. Re: yes, Sonic in californua by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    at&t definitely messes with Sonic customers when dealing with technical issues. Sonic provides a free VPN service to avoid at&t monitoring.

  46. Re: yes, Sonic in californua by allo · · Score: 1

    Someone is always owning the last mile. But often they need to rent it to the competition (hopefully at a fair price).