Over the past few years, the issue of digital privacy has found its way at the forefront of the political landscape. Some of the most noted controversies stem from SOPA (United States) and the Data Retention Directive (European Union). There have long been privacy concerns in the Middle East and China and there is no sign of change in either region. What does this have to do with the average internet user? In short – don’t expect ISPs to fight for customer privacy. Customers must turn to other options, such as VPN services, to minimize the amount of data ISPs have access to.
United States Federal Law :
There have been several significant examples of ISPs either freely giving up (or selling) information about their customers or being forced to do so by government agencies. A commonly used example is Gmail accounts.
This included the names and addresses of everyone who sent and received email communications. No ISP in the United States can withhold information they have on a customer if the request is accompanied by a warrant. Furthermore, no one knows how much data ISPs store or for how long it is kept. They are not required to disclose this information.
It Gets Worse :
A common concern about ISPs logging and housing more information is the databases vulnerability from hackers. Not only do customers need to worry about ISPs monitors their activities, they also need to worry about hackers getting access to a giant compilation of data spanning millions of users.
Protect Yourself by Hiding Your Data :
The only way to guarantee ISPs do not store this type of data is by ensuring they don’t get access to it. Connecting to a VPN service is an ideal solution. When connected to a VPN, all of the data passing through the users ISP is encrypted. The encryption eliminates the opportunity for deep data packet inspection and tracking by ISPs. If ISPs do look at the data being sent to the VPN, they will only see a random assortment of numbers, letters, and symbols – essentially it will be gibberish.
A VPN connection protects customer’s data through tunneling. The easiest way to visualize this is by picturing a drinking straw. The customer is at one end and the VPN server is at the other and they send each other by sending data through the straw. The data is then decrypted once it reaches its destination. Instead of seeing the specific data is being sent, the ISP only knows how much data is being transferred.
Even if ISPs wanted to protect their customer’s privacy, they legally don’t have a choice. It is the responsibility of the customer to use resources, such as VPN services, to protect themselves.
