ACLU Asks FCC to Scrutinize ISP Surveillance of Customers’ Internet Habits

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Deep Packet Inspections (DPI) violate online privacy and Net Neutrality

WASHINGTON - July 21 - Today as part of the FCC field hearing at Carnegie Mellon University on broadband and the digital future, the American Civil Liberties Union will submit written comments about how Deep Packet Inspections (DPI) and other practices threaten Americans’ online privacy and a neutral Internet.

The following can be attributed to Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office:

“The Internet has become one of the most important methods of communication in history because of neutrality rules. The Commission must use the information from today’s hearing on broadband and the digital future to take steps to ensure that speech and association on the Internet remain free.

“Corporate gatekeepers, like Comcast, jeopardize the very existence of the Internet as a forum for speech. The Commission has the challenging, but far from impossible job of immediately restoring neutrality to the Net while avoiding censorship. Thus, the Commission should not resort to unconstitutional license conditions such as mandatory and automatic filtering -- the Internet should remain a zone free of any gatekeepers or censors.