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USIIA Alert             April 5, 2008            Alert 08:02
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The following is an alert from the US Internet Industry 
Association, the nation's oldest and largest trade association 
for Internet commerce, content and connectivity. Information 
regarding USIIA can be found at http://www.usiia.org.


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US ISPs Tracking Subscribers For Ad Revenue?
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A report in the Washington Post on Friday, April 4 claims that 
US Internet Service Providers are using deep packet inspection
technicques to track where their subscribers go online and 
what their buying preferences might be.

This information is purportedly sold to advertisers, who then
use the information to tailer specific ads to these subscribers.

The article (at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-yn/content/
article/ 2008/04/03/AR2008040304052.html) says that up to 10
percent of US broadband subscribers are being quietly tracked
as ISPs test this system of generating revenue.  The article is
able to identify only one ISP doing so, a company called Knology.
However, the newspaper says that other ISPs refused to comment
on their programs.

Knology does claim that their data is vetted to remove the 
identities of each individual, though they cannot verify that
this is the case.  In any event, their data is being used to 
tie specific consumers to specific buying habits and web
browsing habits.

The Washington Post also identified two companies -- Embarq and
Wide Open West -- as having recently altered their subscriber
Terms of Service Agreement to permit such monitoring.

Other media companies have contacted USIIA over the weekend
asking for comment on this apparent breach of consumer privacy.

If such experimentation is underday, we may expect the possibility
of three very negative outcomes:

1)  A strong consumer backlash, with demands for investigation
    by the Congress, the Federal trade Commission and the FCC.

2)  Renewed calls for regulation of broadband network operators
    for violation of privacy and non-transparent subscriber
    agreements.

3)  Renewed calls for broadband network operators to utilize
    their capabilities in deep packet inspection to identify and
    report copyright violators, child pornography violators and
    other lawbreakers under the assumption that if we already
    monitor subscriber for our own financial gain we can do so
    to assist others.

This is a serious situation the industry needs to respond to 
immediately and clearly, both as individual companies and as a
group.  USIAA would be glad to assist in this effort, both other
organizations could and should be involved as well.

At a mimimum, terms of service agreement and other documents 
should be reviewed to ensure adequate transparency of their terms
and appropriate safeguarding of private personal information.