Tech World Facing Upheaval, ISPs Making Bold But Insincere Promises About Privacy

The controversial anti-privacy bill that the House of Congress passed last week has upended the tech world, causing widespread upheaval. While the development applies largely to internet service providers like Comcast and AT&T, it also affects other tech companies in general. As a result, even firms like Google and Facebook now have targets painted on their backs over this bill. Adding insult to injury, ISPs are also making some rather bold promises that no one believes they are going to keep.

As The Hill reports, the national debate on internet privacy issues has ensued once again when Congress decided to repeal the Obama-era Privacy Protection act by the previous leaders of the Federal Communication Commission. Many are taking this action to be in line with the short-term Conservative party goal of removing everything that the previous administration has put in place.

One of the biggest effects of the political kerfuffle is the mounting pressure faced by internet carriers and tech companies to both make their stance clear in their privacy policies and make the necessary changes that will put users at ease. At this point, there are still those who don’t completely understand what privacy rights were just trampled on.

For the internet companies themselves, several have already promised that they have no intention of selling the information they collect from users without their permission, Gizmodo reports. Comcast’s spokesperson, Gerard Lewis said as much in a statement provided by the company.

“We do not sell our broadband customers’ individual web browsing history,” Lewis said. “We did not do it before the FCC’s rules were adopted, and we have no plans to do so.”

Statements from other companies read pretty much along the same lines, which the publication is simply not taking at face value. The problem that the media finds with reassurances from companies is how disingenuous they are worded.

Protection of personal and sensitive information was broadly covered by the now-repealed Privacy Protection act. None of the companies so far have guaranteed the same level of security.