Cable and Privacy

Privacy is a difficult issue. Especially in the world of the Internet. Back in the telephone days the customer records were sacrosanct. One need a Court Order to tap a line, to see customer records and the like. In today's world we are all too eager to assume that such is still the case and the FCC seems to be trying to make it so. Yet the CATV companies not only want unfettered access to our records but they also want to monetize them.

ArsTechnica reports on the Comcast proposal to the FCC. They note:

Comcast executives met with FCC officials last week, and "urged that the Commission allow business models offering discounts or other value to consumers in exchange for allowing ISPs to use their data," Comcast wrote in an ex parte filing that describes the meeting.

 Now one can view this another way. Namely the customer must pay more to keep their privacy, not get a discount. There is no price in CATV, it is totally unregulated. Frankly if one desires to allow the CATV to see and monetize their information, fine, but that should be an "opt in" approach not an "opt out".