Broadband providers such as Comcast and AT&T will have to get customers’ permission before they can share personal data with other companies, the FCC ruled Thursday, marking a major expansion of privacy protections and perhaps shifting the balance of power in the online marketplace.
Those browsing on mobile devices could refuse to have their locations shared, while all users could instruct their internet service providers not to trade their web browsing history or information about what apps they are using under the rules, which the Federal Communications Commission adopted on a 3-2 vote.
“It’s the consumer’s information. How it is used should be the consumer’s choice, not the choice of some corporate algorithm,” said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who led the push for the changes.
The rules will need to be published, and the industry will have a year to comply. In addition to internet use, the ISPs would have to allow customers to opt in to share their geographic locations, their financial or health information, and the contents of their communications.
Additionally, customers must be allowed to opt out of having information about their plans, such as the types of services they buy, shared.
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3 comments:
Tell that to Wikileaks, LOL! Oh, and all the others, too!
If you put something on the internet, just don't forget it can go anywhere and everywhere any time.
Ask Hillary Clinton if you don't believe me!
Hopefull the opt outs will be clear and easy to find, otherwise look for new terms of service to give permission to use browsing history and to use an arbitrator to mediate disputes.
The private browsing mode is not private at all. Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari and Internet Explorer all have private browsing modes you can use to make sure the websites you visit don’t appear in your browsing history, but a list of the URLs you have visited during private browsing sessions are still stored in a database file, viewable by anyone using your computer who wants to take the time to access it.
One can just use parental control features to view the sites that may be hidden. For example, Microsoft Family Safety will report web site history regardless of the browser settings. For more tech-savvy people, checking the DNS cache does the trick.
The private browsing mode is not private at all. If you completely want to remove all the traces, use AntiTrail software and that's it.
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