Charter Communications to Track User Web Traffic

ISP will then sell data to firm for use in targeted ads.

There’s a disturbing report up on DSLreports that says that Charter Communications, the 4th-largest cable system in the US, has notified some of its broadband customers that it plans to to begin tracking their internet traffic for resale to a targeted advertising firm.

In about the month he plan will initially be tested out in 4 markets: Fort Worth, Tex.; San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Oxford, Mass.; and Newtown, Conn. Afterwards it will then determine whether or not to implement the plan systemwide to its 2.8 million broadband subscribers.

Charter refers to the plan as part of upcoming “enhancements to your browsing experience,” though how they can call the tracking and reselling of your web history is beyond me.

The letter reads in part:

I am writing to inform you of an enhancement coming soon to your web browsing experience via Charter’s High-Speed Internet service. While continuing to deliver the same fast and reliable Internet service you’ve always received, innovative new technology enables Charter to provide you with an enhanced online experience that is more customized to your interests and activities.

As a result, the advertising you typically see online will better reflect the interests you express through your web-surfing activity. You will not see more ads — just ads that are more relevant to you.

This service was designed to ensure that your privacy as a Charter customer will continue to be protected. Your personal information will remain confidential and your online activity will never be linked by anyone to your individual identity through this service. The service is completely anonymous and does not collect or use any information that identities you or your family.

A follow up by the NYTimes includes an interview with Ted Schremp, Charter’s senior VP for product management and strategy, whom emphasizes that the company is taking a “high road approach” by telling customers “exactly what were doing,” and is not trying to hide or bury it in “mouse type or legal disclosures.

Kudos for that, but it still doesn’t mean that tracking and selling your browsing history “enhances” your Internet experience.

He also reiterated that it convened focus groups in several cities that he says didn’t object when the program was explained to them.

“The mainstream Internet user is hugely aware of the fact that the fundamental economic model on the Internet is advertising,” he said.

“All we are doing is, in an anonymous format, providing additional context to serve those ads. To the extent those ads are more meaningful to me as Ted Schremp, I will have a better Internet experience than the generic ads that are part of Yahoo and everything online.”

But, the whole plan comes with the premise that a customer’s web history will remain private and confidential. Once you start creating data where essentially none previously existed it then becomes possible to find its way into the hands of the unwanted, like government agencies, other non-ad-related businesses, prospective employers, or even family or friends.

What if later on, for example, the MPAA or RIAA want to find out which customers visited The Pirate Bay?

To be fair, Charter does allow you to opt-out of the the plan, but considering it has such profound privacy implications shouldn’t customers be asked to opt-in instead?

Is it really an “enhanced experience” to have somebody monitoring every site you visit and then selling it to a third party advertiser? I think not.

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