No More Secrets
October 28th, 2008 by Megan TadyYour Internet service provider is full of secrets — and it’s time they came clean.
From stealthily spying on your every online movement to covertly blocking Internet traffic, broadband providers engage in widespread, anti-consumer practices.
Today, Free Press called on the Federal Communications Commission to require all broadband providers to disclose any practice that monitors or interferes with customers’ Internet use. In addition to transparent “network management” practices, all ISPs should tell consumers what they can really expect from their service by publicly disclosing the minimum broadband speed guaranteed to users.
Two recent high-profile cases of abuse highlight the urgent need for tougher disclosure requirements. Online marketer NebuAd partnered with several broadband providers to secretly monitor and reroute user information into private servers — until a congressional inquiry exposed the dubious practice. Comcast, the country’s largest cable company, secretly blocked users’ access to online applications for more than a year before an FCC investigation forced the company to admit to the illegal practice.
Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press, said consumers are in the dark about their ISP’s actions, and have no way to know if and when their Internet usage is being altered, tracked or redirected.
“Terms of service agreements contain the vaguest language that corporate lawyers can devise — further stacking the deck against the consumer,” Scott said. “It took years to uncover Comcast’s illegal behavior and NebuAd’s intrusive technology. And it could take years more to uncover the next hidden harm.”
