ISP Wiretapping: FCC, FTC, and Congress Need to Act Now!

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "David P. Reed" <dpreed () reed com>
> Date: May 13, 2008 3:53:08 PM EDT
> To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
> Cc: ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
> Subject: Re: [IP] ISP Wiretapping: FCC, FTC, and Congress Need to  
> Act Now!

> Lauren really needs to calm down here.
>
> After all, ISPs have property rights and property, coming first in the
> Constitution, trumps everything else  (the American declaration of
> independence was supposed to say "life, liberty, and property"  
> according
> to Cato Institute and others who claim property and wealth trumps  
> those
> pesky things that Tom Paine called "The Rights of Man").
>
> It would be an "unlawful taking" by the government to bar  
> infrastructure
> owners from spying on their users' every action.  Unless the FCC, FTC,
> and Congress are willing to pay billions of dollars to the ISPs per  
> day
> for lost maximizable  " ad targeting revenue" caused by regulation, it
> would really be unfair to prevent them from raping and pillaging  
> packets
> that flow over their wires.
>
> Just as TV executives were right to say that their viewers should  
> not be
> able to skip ads or go to the bathroom during ads, ISPs should not be
> forced to let users avoid targeting - in fact, it's a positive social
> good to let ISPs profit from spying, so that more poor people can get
> ISP services.
>
> Hmm.. the same logic should apply to any regulations against gun
> ownership by criminals.  After all, barring owners from concealing
> pistols under their coats limits the opportunity to rob grocery stores
> and murder for hire.   This is a really serious "taking", too.
>
> As some of our rural WISP friends tell us, and a brilliant co- 
> creator of
> twisted pair wiring tells us, ISPs deserve everything they can extract
> from their users.   After all, it's their wires!
>
> Free the ISPs!   Don't tread on them!
>
> David Farber wrote:
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > > *From:* Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com <mailto:lauren () vortex com 
> > > >>
> > > *Date:* May 13, 2008 1:05:39 PM EDT
> > > *To:* David Farber <dave () farber net <mailto:dave () farber net>>
> > > *Cc:* "lauren () vortex com <mailto:lauren () vortex com>"
> > > <lauren () vortex com <mailto:lauren () vortex com>>
> > > *Subject:* *ISP Wiretapping: FCC, FTC, and Congress Need to Act  
> > > Now!*
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >         ISP Wiretapping: FCC, FTC, and Congress Need to Act Now!
> > >
> > >               http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000383.html
> > >
> > >
> > > Greetings.  Charter Communications has now announced
> > > ( http://tinyurl.com/4ggphq ) that they intend to "wiretap" (that's
> > > the only appropriate term I can think of) subscribers' Internet
> > > Communications, and use the search data obtained in this manner to
> > > inject Charter's own targeted advertising into user data streams.
> > >
> > > I believe that the "wait and see" timeout period on these abuses of
> > > DPI (Deep Packet Inspection) technology has now expired, and we now
> > > need to look to the FCC, FTC, and Congress for immediate actions to
> > > protect ISP subscribers' privacy rights, and both the privacy and
> > > business rights of the Internet services with whom those users
> > > communicate.
> > >
> > > Charter's plans seem very much in line with both the Rogers Cable
> > > data insertion system ( "Google Hijacked -- Major ISP to Intercept
> > > and Modify Web Pages" -- http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000337.html 
> > >  )
> > > and the UK "Phorm" system ( "UK ISPs to Spy on Google Users (and
> > > Others)" --
> > > http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000375.html ), both of which I've
> > > discussed previously at some length.
> > >
> > > As I've noted, the use of content monitoring systems by ISPs on
> > > other than a purely opt-in basis is nothing short of wiretapping (in
> > > a practical sense that we all can understand, legal loopholes
> > > notwithstanding).  It is monitoring of communications between users
> > > and Internet services, and all of the touted anonymization claims
> > > and awkward opt-out cookies don't amount to a hill of beans.
> > >
> > > This class of threats to privacy and business interests may have
> > > been "merely" theoretical before, but now is concrete and real.
> > >
> > > Users can in some cases take their own protective steps by
> > > encrypting their communications whenever possible ( "Toward  
> > > Pervasive
> > > Internet Encryption: Unshackling the Self-Signed Certificate" --
> > > http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000339.html ).
> > >
> > > But now is the time for our legislators and regulators to earn their
> > > salaries, and make it clear that ISPs are supposed to be carriers of
> > > communications, not spying on, tracking, and modifying subscriber
> > > communications for their own gains.
> > >
> > > --Lauren--
> > > Lauren Weinstein
> > > lauren () vortex com <mailto:lauren () vortex com> or lauren () pfir org
> > > <mailto:lauren () pfir org>
> > > Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
> > > http://www.pfir.org/lauren
> > > Co-Founder, PFIR
> > >  - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
> > > Co-Founder, NNSquad
> > >  - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
> > > Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
> > > Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
> > > Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
> > --- 
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