This is just horrifying:
Ars Link
That is unbelievably invasive and then they're dodgy when reporters ask them about it and refuse to state what their analytical process actually is.
Ars Link
quote:
If you have AT&T's gigabit Internet service and wonder why it seems so affordable, here's the reasonAT&T is boosting profits by rerouting all your Web browsing to an in-house traffic scanning platform, analyzing your Internet habits, then using the results to deliver personalized ads to the websites you visit, e-mail to your inbox, and junk mail to your front door.
In a few select areas including Austin, Texas, and Kansas City, Missouriplaces where AT&T competes against the $70-per-month GoogleFiberMa Bell offers its own $70-per-month "GigaPower" fiber-to-the-home Internet access. But signing up for the deal also opts customers in to AT&T's "Internet Preferences" program, which gives the company permission to examine each customer's Web traffic in exchange for a price that matches Google's.
quote:
This is the one time when the post office analogy works pretty well for the Internet, when you're transmitting data back and forth it has some header information that describes where it's going. It might say roughly what the contents are. You could think of it as media mail vs. parcel post vs. first class or something These are the sorts of things that show up in the headers that ISPs usually look at when they're figuring out where to send your traffic.
But deep packet inspection is as if the post office would open up your mail and look at the letters or look at, 'what does this package contain. Look, he ordered a new Xbox from Amazon or something like that, maybe he wants to buy an Xbox game now, so let's show him ads for that.' It really is about looking at the inside of the content of your communications.
That is unbelievably invasive and then they're dodgy when reporters ask them about it and refuse to state what their analytical process actually is.
