digg

Join DiggAbout

Discover and share the best of the web!
Learn more about Digg by taking the tour.

Under Pressure, ISP Admits Secret Web Snooping in Kansas

blog.wired.com — Internet service provider Embarq eavesdropped on the web surfing habits of 26,000 customers in Kansas without notifying them personally, as part of its test of new, controversial advertising technology that profiles users, according to a letter sent to federal lawmakers Wednesday.

Bury
show profanity settings
expand all
  • Jonsblckhwk, on 07/24/2008, -1/+49Embarq was also blocking ALL bittorrent traffic. Their customer service reps gave the run around and a denial as i sat at home attempting. Embarq has always given me ***** service, whether internet or phone so i dropped them. I'd almost say they are worse than comcast.
    • scojac, on 07/25/2008, -0/+6Keyword there: "almost".
    • thegodfaza, on 07/25/2008, -1/+4There is no such thing as "worst than comcast".
    • rewritable, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3I've had embarq for 3 years now, I've never had the problems you are speaking of. I've had them from 768k to 1500k to 3000 and now I am at 5000. I have downloaded terabytes of data with bittorent I've never had them send me more than my statement each month.....and i am not downloading linux distros. My bittorent speeds have never been thottled at least to my knowledge. (300 to 500 KB's on most downloads tells me they aren't throttling me I've always been using the built in encryption with utorrent)

      I love embarq and I'll keep them until the go out of business or I move to an area where I cannot get service with them which wont be any time soon, where else can I get 5MB DSL service 5-6 miles from a town of less than 5000 resident? please let me know.
  • scottc, on 07/25/2008, -1/+10I just suffered through an Embarq "high speed" connection at my parents' home while on vacation last week, and I wasn't doing file sharing of any kind...just normal web browsing. Unfortunately they live in a very small town and have no other provider.
  • xireddawnix, on 07/25/2008, -4/+9Embarq is owned by Sprint. What do you expect when it comes to service?
    • j0hneb0y81, on 07/25/2008, -0/+6no they're not.
      Embarq spun off Sprint..
    • tremor_tj, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3Give it a rest. Sprint has been trying really hard to turn it around since getting rid of the last two crook CEOs. Embarq is not Sprint.
    • ratsg, on 07/25/2008, -1/+2SPRINT - Stupid People Reactively Introducing Network Troubles.
  • davidbeile, on 07/25/2008, -1/+19This may just be a small taste of what's to come.
  • towjam, on 07/25/2008, -19/+3***** kansas
    • Aldanga, on 07/25/2008, -1/+14I resent that.

      ***** Embarq.
    • warispeace21, on 07/25/2008, -1/+6***** you.
    • Pittance, on 07/25/2008, -3/+6***** them both. Not everyone in Kansas, just all of the backwards people who think it is their right to force other people's children to learn about jesus in a public school, and call creationism science.
      • MWeather, on 07/25/2008, -4/+1You just described everyone in Kansas.
      • ratsg, on 07/25/2008, -2/+1Welcome to Kansas. Please set your clocks back 50 years.
      • ratsg, on 09/15/2008, -0/+1if you lived in Kansas, you would know I was right!!
    • skyroket, on 07/25/2008, -1/+1Embarq and Charter have quite a presence in Nebraska, too, right? ***** Nebraska!!
  • matthewinDRO, on 07/25/2008, -8/+5Nothing to see here . . . move along
  • serif69, on 07/25/2008, -0/+14I hope the advertising is for identity theft solutions and class action attorneys.
  • MaxIsBored, on 07/25/2008, -0/+13Isn't there some sort of privacy law against this? I mean, what's this difference them going through your internet, and your mail?
    • scojac, on 07/25/2008, -0/+14What are you, unpatriotic or something?
    • pilobilus, on 07/25/2008, -1/+7Seriously, no, there is no such law. Other than contract law - read your terms of service agreement with your ISP carefully. It gets worse: They can change the agreement at any time, not inform you of the changes, and enforce those changes against you in a court of law. Your only options for privacy and security are anonymized services like TOR and encryption like GPG.

      All your base are belong to them. You have no chance to survive. Make your time.
      • Eezyville, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2Maybe they'll set up a law to prevent them from doing that ***** to us like what they did with the credit card companies.
    • microchp, on 07/25/2008, -1/+3The internet is outside of your home. There are no laws in any country that protect anything outside of your home. Even phone conversations are and always have been monitored without court orders. Myself and many others were required to leave access to various agencies open, no restrictions, no logging, no auditing. It has been this way for decades and will continue to be this way forever.

      Anything you don't want monitored should be encrypted using your own custom encryption algorithms and padded packets to avoid pattern analysis.

      To keep the lower tech agencies from snooping, just using SSL certs and enforcing strong encryption is sufficient. SSL certs are dirt cheap now. There is no excuse for a website to be clear text any more.

      Email and federal mail are unrelated. Email is less secure than a postcard.
  • mrgreenjeans9, on 07/25/2008, -0/+14"Telecom subcommittee head Reps. Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts), watchdog groups and law professors have questioned whether the technology violates federal privacy laws, including the wiretapping statute."

    with the new FISA bill that just went through, i didn't think there was much left of our 'federal privacy laws' for companies like Embarq to violate. isn't eavesdropping just business as usual these days?
    • greensky, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2even if there are privacy laws left, why not just violate the law and have congress make your actions legal a few years later.
  • cwmather, on 07/25/2008, -9/+3Wait..........you are telling me............ that my internet traffic is somehow being........... MONITORED???#??!!!1!1!!!

    Egad!! This is certainly news! And I am NOT being sarcastic!

    Not even a LITTLE!1!!!1!
    • Yez70, on 07/25/2008, -1/+1Yea, people can even read what you just posted without a password! I just did! Mind boggling isn't it?
  • elhaf, on 07/25/2008, -2/+2Neal Stephenson wrote a short story about this... in wired.
  • indiancompanion, on 07/25/2008, -0/+26I must live in the worst place for internet, my two choices are Embarq or Comcast. What do I do now?
  • josh0518, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3I think the ones who are affected should claim compensation for the snooping that the ISP did. People should file a class action lawsuit and request for damages for the illegal data obtained and also be entitled to any sort of benefit that these ISPs received.

    I think the whole concept of ISPs using user data to earn money from advertisements should be illegal. If they wish to earn money through this method, they should first request authorization from the end user and then also any income earned through the system should be split with the customers themselves through potentially cash backs or reducing monthly internet bills. The rationale being that this is the user's data, they have the right to sell them for money, not the ISPs. The ISPs have no right at all to utilize the users data in any way unless given consent and provide compensation to the data owner from using any of the data. Since intellectual property is such a hot topic right now, personal data should in fact be classified as a form of intellectual property and the rights owners are the once whose habit creates the data in the first place.
  • sponeil, on 07/25/2008, -0/+6"advertising technology that profiles users"

    So now the ISP's are going to send us porn ads as well? Why not just nail them with the "can-spam" act?
  • mrhahn, on 07/25/2008, -1/+5Sounds like what some ISPs here in England were doing -- http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/27/bt_phorm_1 ...
  • techblogLAT, on 07/25/2008, -0/+9Hey Embarq, if you're watching me type this: Screw you!
  • beesaretasty, on 07/25/2008, -1/+2I hope they get retroactive immunity.
  • RationalXubrnce, on 07/25/2008, -1/+2 I would imagine every ISP looks at user data both globally and individually whenever they want.
  • miamidolfan13, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4You will see a lot more spying now that FISA passed and signed. Below are the Dems who helped the GOP crush the 4th amendment.
    http://www.bluetidalwave.com/2008/07/fisa-hit-list ...
  • Vinney, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1I live like 10 Miles from Gardner... Guess my ISP.

    It really blows because they are the only service i can get here in the middle of nowhere besides satellite and they ARE THE ONLY company i can use a phone line for a fax machine with...

    Damnit
  • Botrax, on 07/25/2008, -1/+1Encrypt
  • mttyd, on 07/25/2008, -1/+1Why is this such a big deal... I mean every credit card transaction is put into a massive database that is sold to advertisers... Your property records drivers license info and even credit info is bought and sold on a daily basis... Until that kinda stuff is outlawed stuff like who's myspace page did you visit is pretty minor (:
  • NFLSuperFan, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3That bluetidalwave list was quite depressing.
  • gungaroo22, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1I'm in Kansas and have Embarq. This troubles me to no end.
  • ad33lshahid, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1how many of you are really surprised, be honest
  • Intercon, on 07/25/2008, -1/+2

    In 10 years, after the Second American Civil War, you can look back on news items like these as indicators of a systematic dismantling of citizen's rights in this country, right before the fascists took over.

    The wiretapping laws, strengthened after Nixon's debacle, have now gone out the window with the latest FISA bill. Little by little, the implementation of an extremely effective monitoring and control system is being put into place.

    Digg me down all you like: you wil see this system used against ordinary citizen's very soon.
  • Intercon, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2
    In 10 years, after the Second American Civil War, you can look back on news items like these as indicators of a systematic dismantling of citizen's rights in this country; right before the fascists took over.

    The wiretapping laws, strengthened after Nixon's debacle, have now gone out the window with the latest FISA bill. Little by little, the implementation of an extremely effective monitoring and control system is being put into place.

    Digg me down all you like: you wil see this system used against ordinary citizens very soon.
  • akula89, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto
  • JohnDiggz, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1This is exactly why I use LiteVPN. You cant trust anyone these days.

    http://litevpn.com/vpn-why-use.html

    John
  • KirbyMorph, on 07/25/2008, -1/+5They have the internet in Kansas?
    • WorldLeader, on 07/25/2008, -1/+1Oddly enough they have some of the fastest internet speeds in Kansas.

      I'm pulling over 15 Mb/s DL speed in the middle of Kansas (aka nowhere)
    • FLAESHAL, on 07/26/2008, -0/+1WorldLeader, You're lucky I myself live in Olathe (only one town over from the city in the article) and am stuck with either ATT or Comcast, having ATT the max download is only 300 kB/s.

      May I ask what City you live in and what provider? I'm guessing Wichita seeing as that's the only city of a decent size in central Kansas.
      • WorldLeader, on 07/26/2008, -1/+1Manhattan, using Cox. It may have something to do with the University being right down the street though... they have some even faster links for their systems.
      • KayIslandDrunk, on 07/26/2008, -0/+1Hahaha, I live in Wichita and calling a metro area of only 600k "decent size" is a joke. I think you might want to move on to KC, Houston, or Chicago.
  • whoreable, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3All they found out was just how popular NASCAR is among middle americans.
  • Thrilltone, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2I had Comcast for many years and thought they sucked.
    I had Embarq for 3 months and they are THE WORST.
    Cancelled them last week after being overcharged on every bill, sometimes double charged.
    I'm using Brighthouse for cable, web and phone now. I like them a lot.
  • septimusix, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1Used to use Sprint DSL, never had a problem.

    Once they went to the Embarq shindig I started having problems with my connection going down all the time and their customer service was just so full of *****. Just problem after problem.

    It really doesn't surprise me.


  • larrythedog, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3For more detail than you ever thought possible, listen to episodes 151 and 153 of Security Now. Steve Gibson has been RAILING against this for a couple of weeks now. Well worth the listen at http://twit.tv/sn
  • gkiltz, on 07/26/2008, -0/+0Keep in mind: "EMBARQ" is the result of Sprint spinning off it's wireline division when it bought Nextel! How long has this been going on? Is Sprint involved?
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.