[governance] ISP 'listening in' to your tap-tap-tap on your keyboard

[Rui Correia]

All, well and good to say the information collected does not identify
the user .... That is until the US regime and their axis of pax
americana cronies in the EU - ostensibly fighting world terrorism -
FORCE the ISP to disclose the information that it swears it does not
collect  the one that will link the tap-tap-tap to the fingers that
did the tapping.

Rui
___________________________________________________


Every Click You Make
Internet Providers Quietly Test Expanded Tracking of Web Use to Target
Advertising
By Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 4, 2008; Page D01

for the full article,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/03/AR2008040304052.html?wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter


The online behavior of a small but growing number of computer users in
the United States is monitored by their Internet service providers,
who have access to every click and keystroke that comes down the line.

The companies harvest the stream of data for clues to a person's
interests, making money from advertisers who use the information to
target their online pitches.

The practice represents a significant expansion in the ability to
track a household's Web use because it taps into Internet connections,
and critics liken it to a phone company listening in on conversations.
But the companies involved say customers' privacy is protected because
no personally identifying details are released.

The extent of the practice is difficult to gauge because some service
providers involved have declined to discuss their practice


s. Many Web surfers, moreover, probably have little idea they are
being monitored.

But at least 100,000 U.S. customers are tracked this way, and service
providers have been testing it with as many as 10 percent of U.S.
customers, according to tech companies involved in the data
collection.

Although common tracking systems, known as cookies, have counted a
consumer's visits to a network of sites, the new monitoring, known as
"deep-packet inspection," enables a far wider view -- every Web page
visited, every e-mail sent and every search entered. Every bit of data
is divided into packets -- like electronic envelopes -- that the
system can access and analyze for content.

"You don't want the phone company tapping your phone calls, and in the
same way you don't want your ISP tapping your Web traffic," said Ari
Schwartz of the Center for Democracy and Technology, an advocacy
group. "There's a fear here that a user's ISP is going to betray them
and turn their information over to a third party."

In fact, newly proposed Federal Trade Commission guidelines for
behavioral advertising have been outpaced by the technology and do not
address the practice directly. Privacy advocates are preparing to
present to Congress their concerns that the practice is done without
consumer consent and that too little is known about whether such
systems adequately protect personal information.

Meanwhile, many online publishers say the next big growth in
advertising will emerge from efforts to offer ads based not on the
content of a Web page, but on knowing who is looking at it. That, of
course, means gathering more information about consumers.

Advocates of deep-packet inspection see it as a boon for all involved.
Advertisers can better target their pitches. Consumers will see more
relevant ads. Service providers who hand over consumer data can share
in advertising revenues. And Web sites can make more money from online
advertising, a $20 billion industry that is growing rapidly.

With the service provider involved in collecting consumer data, "there
is access to a broader spectrum of the Web traffic -- it's
significantly more valuable," said Derek Maxson, chief technology
officer of Front Porch, a company that collects such data from
millions of users in Asia and is working with a number of U.S. service
providers.

Consider, say, the Boston Celtics Web site. Based on its content, it
posts ads for products a Celtics fan might be interested in: Adidas, a
Boston hotel and so on.

CONTINUES


________________________________________________


Rui Correia
Advocacy, Human Rights, Media and Language Consultant
2 Cutten St
Horison
Roodepoort-Johannesburg,
South Africa
Tel/ Fax (+27-11) 766-4336
Mobile (+27) (0) 84-498-6838
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