The term “deep packet inspection” already sounds creepy, like somebody’s hand deep down your pocket, literally.

Rob Pegoraro of the Washington Post, in the article “Internet Providers’ New Tool Raises Deep Privacy Concerns” explains that deep packet inspection is a new method being used by ISPs to peer inside traffic going through their networks.

It is a new kind of electronic voyeurism.

The motive? Profits.

“Unsurprisingly, companies have been trying to turn this potential into profit. By tracking users’ Web habits this closely, they can gain a much more detailed picture of their interests — and then display precisely targeted, premium-priced ads,” Pegoraro writes

To the average user, security means deleting cookies and clearing browser history, but they are unaware that every page they visit could be monitored by Big Brother.

Compare this to a stalker who’s always behind you, you see him following your every move. To stop a stalker, you go to the police.

But how do you complain against deep packet inspection, when you don’t even know if your ISP is doing it?

RELATED POSTS

953 Views This entry was posted on Friday, September 5th, 2008 at 9:05 am and is filed under Cover Page, Photos, Privacy, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.