[318] in Privacy_Forum
[ PRIVACY Forum ] Harbinger of 2008: ISPs Plow Forward with Internet
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (privacy@vortex.com)
Sun Dec 30 16:28:58 2007
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Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2007 12:42:54 -0800
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Harbinger of 2008: ISPs Plow Forward with Internet Intrusion Plans
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000349.html
Greetings. If the public brouhaha over the revelations here
regarding Rogers' testing of third-party Web pages interception and
modification ("Google Hijacked -- Major ISP to Intercept and Modify
Web Pages" - http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000337.html and linked
updates) led you to believe that they'd be backing off from these
plans, you'd be sadly mistaken.
Word is that Rogers is still moving forward towards full-scale
deployment of the system, even though they feel that it would have
been a simpler sell to the public if not for the "uncontrolled"
manner in which we all learned of the Internet intrusions that the
ISP has planned.
They still firmly believe that their scheme is sound. Their only
really significant mistake -- Rogers supposedly now thinks -- was
that in retrospect, their slapping the Yahoo! logo onto test Rogers
messages being inserted onto other parties' Web pages was a sure way
to attract unwanted early attention from, for example, Google.
Oops!
But Rogers is nothing if not resolute, and they've reportedly got
some propaganda tricks up their sleeve to try convince their
subscribers -- and the world -- that inserting messages and perhaps
much more into other people's Web page data is just a grand idea.
Rogers after all has strong roots in the cable TV industry, and
apparently may argue that their inserting messages into private
Internet connections is no worse than rolling a severe weather
warning crawl at the bottom of TV channels. And in an attempt to
bring a "third rail" issue into the mix, "Amber Alert" (missing
children) messages might be inserted as well -- allowing Rogers to
argue that anyone opposed to *that* sort of Internet insertion must
obviously be some sort of antisocial, uncaring pervert -- or worse.
But Rogers also reportedly has not ruled out using this same
insertion technology for running their own ads on unaffiliated Web
pages, which is of course the primary application that the equipment
vendor, who is so heavily involved, publicly and loudly promotes.
This all tends to brand the whole of Rogers' arguments regarding this
entire topic as merely faux public spiritedness at best.
Don't make a mistake about this. 2007 has been the year that the
smiling public relations faces of the big ISPS have begun to reveal
some sharp fangs indeed.
ISPs have been playing a "shell game" with subscribers for years,
promising "unlimited" Internet services over grossly
under-provisioned network facilities, based on increasingly false
assumptions about how subscribers will actually be using their
Internet connections. As users absorb increasing bandwidth for a
range of popular (and, I might note, completely legal) new
applications, ISPs have invoked vague or oblique clauses in Terms of
Service agreements, in an attempt to rein in those customers that
the ISPs have arbitrarily defined as "abusers" of one sort or
another.
As ISPs move away from being the "mere" conveyors of data toward a
potentially much more lucrative and intrusive role as the arbiters
of everything that we do (unencrypted, anyway) on the Internet, the
warning signs during 2007 were obvious for everyone to see.
We saw AT&T announce plans to monitor their network for "pirated
materials" -- definitions and means still unclear -- and calls from
some in the entertainment industry for all ISPs to do the same.
Comcast got caught lying about directly interfering with file sharing
protocols by forging data packets, and of course we have this
current Rogers story.
The handwriting is very much on the wall. 2008 is likely to be a
watershed year for arguments regarding network neutrality, and in
the determination of the Internet's future directions and
fundamental operating philosophy. Whether or not ISPs will be
permitted to remake the Internet to match their own often warped and
selfish vision hangs in the balance.
However, the ultimate decisions about the future of the Net -- if
we're up to taking a stand with our wallets and laws -- are actually
ours to make as Internet users (both consumers and businesses) and
as legislators who create the ground rules under which we all must
play -- and pay.
Sitting on our hands any longer is simply not a viable option.
Let's use the next year to help make sure that the Internet is and
remains open, transparent, competitive, and nondiscriminatory -- in
the best interests of all its users.
And all the best to you and yours for 2008!
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com or 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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