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Not your grandma’s cookies

Internet service providers (ISPs), the companies like AT&T and Comcast that you pay in exchange for access to the Internet, are now free to sell your personal information to advertising companies. Although there were rules that prohibited ISPs from selling the data they collected on its consumers without permission, these rules were repealed recently.

Unfortunately, the regulations are still pending, having been passed in October of last year.

ISPs required you to say “it’s OK” for them to collect data on how you use the Internet. Now, thanks to the Trump administration, ISPs don’t need your consent to sell that info for money.

Why should you care? Privacy of the consumer is at risk without these regulations.

To be a responsible and smart user of the Internet, you need to be concerned about your privacy and security. It’s your information and your Internet use; if you use the Internet, and most of us (if not all) at Bradley do, you should care.

Some researchers have noticed that the information ISPs are collecting might be more detailed than most consumers originally thought. ISPs will require information like the user’s name (or IP address linked to the user), their location and what you might be doing on the Internet.

Cookies are important to understand. Cookies are downloaded files stored on your computer whenever you load a new webpage, but they aren’t bad. Cookies are the reason why Amazon remembers what’s in your shopping cart, and Facebook remembers your log in. Cookies are an example of data collecting that could work in your favor.

This idea of “if you pay for your Internet service, you are basically paying your ISP to sell your information,” alarmed me. Unfortunately, ISPs may be sparse based on a consumer’s location. Many customers might not have a choice at all when it comes to finding a better ISP, especially one that promises more privacy.

If you don’t pay for your own Internet, you may not be as frustrated as most customers are. Here on Bradley’s campus, Internet is a luxury (to an extent); yet, we are coming closer to the time we will be paying for our own Internet. Nevertheless, it is still your information, as an Internet user, being collected and sold.

Some people have turned to Virtual Private Network (VPN) providers in hopes to take control of their privacy. However, professionals emphasize the risks to using VPNs, and heavily advise people to do their research and make sure, if they choose to use VPNs, that their VPN provider is both credible and reliable.

How could we protect ourselves? Many experts are searching for technological innovations that could be created and implemented to protect users; however, they mostly believe that policy is the best form of protection.

So if you start getting more spam or automated calls, don’t be surprised.

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