FTTN, AT&T, and Privacy

[Guest]

Bad news for people who torrent?

Fusion FTTN circuits are treated by AT&T as enterprise connections, so their normal residential usage caps do not apply. Since you're only torrenting totally 100% legitimate content that means there's no problem. Some other less scrupulous person misusing bittorrent may run afoul of their DMCA policies, but not you.

Is there a relatively pain free way around this, as in VPN or encryption on the BT client or something?
I do torrent a few tv shows because I refuse to pay a monthly fee for a DVR and
can't always be home when they air.

I'm looking forward to the increased speed, but having AT&T sniffing my traffic is a major downside.

[Guest]

Since you're only torrenting totally 100% legitimate content that means there's no problem. Some other less scrupulous person misusing bittorrent may run afoul of their DMCA policies, but not you.

:) :) :)

[leeep]

If Sonic.net started selling VPN solutions to home users on any ATT-backed service, they'd have at least one customer (me) in a heartbeat... just sayin'.

I'm actually surprised you don't yet offer this!

[oddhack]

Sonic's privacy policies apply to our business practices, what information we gather, and what we do with those data. Dane would be in a better to comment on this end of things, obviously, but I don't think we're in a position to dictate what an AT&T network technician does to a piece of AT&T equipment in an AT&T facility.

Sonic is however in a position to enter into a legally binding contract stating what AT&T will or will not do with data passing over their "enterprise circuit", and should do so. What the NSA might or might not do extralegally and noncommercially is really irrelevant to this specific topic.

[Guest]

Regarding the "enterprise" contract Sonic has with AT&T for Sonic FTTN service, would Dane or another Sonic
employee please comment on whether it allows or prohibits AT&T from snooping and storing internet data
and metadata of individual users for business and marketing, etc purposes.

From reading other postings, it sounds as if Sonic Fusion from the central office and Sonic legacy ADSL through
a remote terminal both connect to the XO Communications Inc. fiber network at the central office, while
Sonic FTTN uses AT&T's internet backbone. Why can't Sonic FTTN connect to XO Communications' fiber network
at the central office to avoid AT&T's backbone?--Would avoiding AT&T's backbone improve Sonic FTTN
customer privacy?

In moving from my present Sonic legacy ADSL to Sonic FTTN, what steps can I take to regain privacy? Would
using VPN to a trusted VPN provider solve the Sonic FTTN privacy issues? Could someone recommend a trusted
VPN provider? Any other suggestions to improve privacy?

[gizmos]

Check this story - http://www.dailydot.com/politics/sonic-isp-privacy/ - it relates the story of how the Feds tried to force Sonic to turn over the records and monitor the communications of one of their subscribers. Dane Jasper and Sonic fought them all the way.

Now, if that customer had FTTN, what would the Feds have done? They would have gone straight to AT&T. Sonic would have had no say in the matter, and it's not hard to guess what AT&T would have done.

To me, that's the issue here.

[dane]

Check this story - http://www.dailydot.com/politics/sonic-isp-privacy/ - it relates the story of how the Feds tried to force Sonic to turn over the records and monitor the communications of one of their subscribers. Dane Jasper and Sonic fought them all the way.

Now, if that customer had FTTN, what would the Feds have done? They would have gone straight to AT&T. Sonic would have had no say in the matter, and it's not hard to guess what AT&T would have done.

To me, that's the issue here.

Entirely valid concern! We've published an updated policy and disclosures document that makes clear that we can't control access to records on the ATT IP space.

To get a Sonic IP, you'll need to use our VPN feature. It's free. Info here: https://wiki.sonic.net/wiki/VPN_Service

We are working on new features for VPN which will include static IP too, FYI, plus deploying new servers to deliver higher performance.

[Guest]

Gizmos: You have a valid point. Taking it a bit further, it seems that your concern would also apply to Sonic
legacy ADSL and Sonic Fusion, as they, too, use AT&T wires and facilities. If Sonic says "no, we won't cooperate
with your investigation", then the agency would approach AT&T and ask (or tell) them to put a wiretap on
AT&T owned wires in an AT&T owned facility. Sonic would get full credit for standing up for the customer while
the agency would still get the data it wanted. Come to think of it, maybe the agency would lean on
XO Communications for a wiretap as another option, which would also impact Sonic fiber to the home users.

However, I intentionally focused my question about the commercial use of Sonic FTTN user internet data
and meta data by AT&T out of concern that it could be saved, analyzed, used for commercial
databases and marketing, sort of like what g*****, f*******, and others do. Databases are also a target of
private investigators and divorce lawyers, etc. :-(

Dane: Thanks for pointing out that Sonic has a VPN we can use for privacy!

[joss]

I wish I had known about the privacy issue before I had the FTTN installed (5/1/15). For me one of the real benefits of using Sonic was the privacy policy.

I called tech support today to ask and was informed about the VPN.

However, the VPN does not cover all of the devices attached to my network. For instance I cannot use the VPN with my android tablet and phone and the DVD player which serves Netflix. Nor does it cover the Amazon fire stick and Google streaming device. The network traffic from these would all be done through the AT&T network.

Also, I would have to install VPN software on all of my PCs. It would be more beneficial if my non-AT&T network router could connect to the VPN and then use that connection for all the devices that connect to it. Then each device connected to the router would have the tunneling benefits of the VPN. But my router only supports OPEN VPN and not the CISCO IPSec protocol.

Note: It took me a while, but I was able to use my existing router to manage my network devices without having to use the local routing capabilities of the AT&T router. Only my existing router and the VOIP box are connected to the AT&T modem. That doesn't solve the privacy issue, but it allowed me to continue using the home network as I did before the switch to FTTN.

[leeep]

Check this story - http://www.dailydot.com/politics/sonic-isp-privacy/ - it relates the story of how the Feds tried to force Sonic to turn over the records and monitor the communications of one of their subscribers. Dane Jasper and Sonic fought them all the way.

Now, if that customer had FTTN, what would the Feds have done? They would have gone straight to AT&T. Sonic would have had no say in the matter, and it's not hard to guess what AT&T would have done.

To me, that's the issue here.

Entirely valid concern! We've published an updated policy and disclosures document that makes clear that we can't control access to records on the ATT IP space.

To get a Sonic IP, you'll need to use our VPN feature. It's free. Info here: https://wiki.sonic.net/wiki/VPN_Service

We are working on new features for VPN which will include static IP too, FYI, plus deploying new servers to deliver higher performance.

Is there a simplified flowchart or similar diagram that shows how the typical home is routed and connnected to the internet via Fusion ADSL and FTTN services? Which part of the connection would the linked Sonic VPN service cover?

Given all the hullabaloo about third party tracking for marketing purposes and such, this sort of basic understanding of where things go to/from would be useful, imho. Especially given how we know for a fact ATT is overly cooperative with any and all attempts to tap into a customer's network traffic.

Thanks.