[GLLUG] ISPs Conducting Deep-Packet Inspection

[Stanley C. Mortel]

F.Y.I. from SANS.


>- --ISPs Conducting Deep-Packet Inspection
>(April 4, 2008)
>The Internet use of at least 100,000 Americans is being monitored by
>ISPs.  They collect the information so users can be targeted with
>advertisements that are more likely to be of interest to them and
>advertisers are likely to reach a more receptive audience.  The
>companies involved in what is known as deep-packet inspection maintain
>that users' privacy is protected because personally identifying
>information is not shared.
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/03/AR2008040304052_pf.html
>[Editor's Note (Schultz): You've got to be kidding. _Animal Farm_, here we 
>come.
>(Northcutt): These practices are far more pervasive than most people
>understand. Here is a research note I keep on SANS college's Security
>Laboratory to keep track of this very disturbing trend:
>http://www.sans.edu/resources/securitylab/superclick_privacy.php
>(Liston): This is the practice that has caused an uproar over Phorm (see
>"Phorm Targeted Advertising Plan Comes Under More Fire" elsewhere in
>NewsBites).  What I find interesting is that the privacy implications
>of these systems aren't anything new: your browsing data has been
>traversing your ISP's network in the clear and subject to this type of
>analysis all along.  Now that they're admitting to analyzing it,
>suddenly it's a privacy concern?]



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Stan Mortel
mortel at cyber-nos.com
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