PRISM and user data

[kar2323]

The recent revelations concerning PRISM and data mining by the government have me curious as to whether Sonic has been approached by the NSA about participating in this. I vaguely remember something in the past that Sonic had resisted a request for data by law enforcement but ultimately had to comply.

It seems that every byte of data on the internet is being hoovered up and dumped into storage somewhere, which is not really a surprise. Does Sonic have an opinion on this?

[Nicholas Crooks]

I just read EFF (Electronic Frontiers Foundation) 2013 Report on companies protecting user's rights.

Your company not only ranked the highest, you've changed your storage policy to a realistic 2 weeks vs 36 months.

Thank-you so much.

I would sign up today, if your company was in Wisconsin.

With Appreciation,

Nick C.

[adame]

The recent revelations concerning PRISM and data mining by the government have me curious as to whether Sonic has been approached by the NSA about participating in this. I vaguely remember something in the past that Sonic had resisted a request for data by law enforcement but ultimately had to comply.

We hadn't been approached by the NSA about PRISM. First we heard about it was in the Guardian article.

If you're interested in how many subpoenas we receive yearly and what sort of data we've been compelled to hand over, check out our Transparency Report: http://corp.sonic.net/ceo/2013/05/24/20 ... cy-report/ . You can see that we actively defend our users' privacy successfully in the majority of cases.

In terms of what sort of data we retain, you can view that information here. All our logs are temporary, and we try to only log what is useful for us to help our customers.

[adame]

I just read EFF (Electronic Frontiers Foundation) 2013 Report on companies protecting user's rights.

Your company not only ranked the highest, you've changed your storage policy to a realistic 2 weeks vs 36 months.

Thank-you so much.

I would sign up today, if your company was in Wisconsin.

With Appreciation,

Nick C.

Thanks Nick! We appreciate it and look forward to the day when we can make it out to Wisconsin.

[kar2323]

Thanks for the response, Adam. If Sonic's commitment to user privacy is not a major selling point, it should be. It may be moot, since the NSA seems to by archiving the entire internet, but it's nice to know you're on our side.

[Guest]

If Sonic's commitment to user privacy is not a major selling point, it should be.

Unfortunately a lot of individuals who live in the US don't think like you. A lot of people would laugh and ignorantly say either "we have no privacy in this day and age" or "I have nothing to hide."

[tikvah]

Guest is likely right but no one thinks of good user privacy as a reason *not* to use a particular ISP. So no downside to Sonic making the commitment.

As for "nothing to hide" I suppose that depends on who's deciding what is worth hiding. My being an active Jew is probably not going to be an issue in the US in the foreseeable future, but that wasn't the case for my mom, for example. And I'm active in interfaith movements and connect with Muslims, maybe that will be what having Communist friends was like for people in the 50's.

Just because I don't engage in criminal activities doesn't mean I can't be labeled a threat to the government. That goes for any of us. I know, anyone on this thread gets all that. I'm glad Sonic does too.

[Guest]

Just because I don't engage in criminal activities doesn't mean I can't be labeled a threat to the government. That goes for any of us. I know, anyone on this thread gets all that. I'm glad Sonic does too.

I agree and you understand just because you've done nothing wrong doesn't mean the people who are interpreting the secret data would feel the same way today or some time in the future.

I am also glad knowing Sonic currently fights for our rights.

[Potential Customer]

What are the privacy responsibilities of any and all companies that would be identified as sonic.net "affiliates" in regards to the privacy of sonic.nets users identifications and any information shared through sonic.net use by those users.

[chalkhorse]

I choke every time I hear a young person say it's ok with them that the gov't looks at thier data, that they have nothing to hide. Weither or not you have something to hide is not the issue. There is still that nasty little thing called The Bill of Rights and until they have to balls to publicly abolish it they have no right to ignore it. Every key stoke you make over the web can be and is documented by big brother. Yes, privacy policies (thank you sonic) can prevent direct demands for your information but does nothing about the continuos monitoring of all web activity, where it's coming from and going to.

I hate to say it but it's going to take an uprising from us to stop this. Politicans do not care about let alone read written complaints. As long as we permit it the larger it will become. Check out dear Orwell's Animal Farm written decades ago and has become reality.

It is truley frustrating that the only people that seem to even be protesting this action in all aspects of our lives are us old folk from the 60's and 70's. The young people I know say there's nothing they can do so why do anything. I find it interesting that this total apathy has come about since floride has become mandated for all public water. In case you are not aware, complacency is a known side effect of floride. Despite all the hype over floride preventing cavities, it does not actually do a thing for cavity prevention. I even asked my dentist about this and he agreed. Floride simply came about when factory owners did not know what to do with all the build up of it in smoke stacks so some government type suggested promoting it as cavity prevention and adding the poison to water. One of the greatest pr campains of all time. Take notice some time of the warning on tooth paste to not swollow it. The paste it's self is over all harmless. The floride is toxic.

It's no surprise that other countries (no other country has floride in the water) were amazed that there was no rioting, not even a peep when Baby Bush was given office the second time when there was no proof he even won. But, then again, we have the Electorial College that would have elected him any how. Note that the Electorial College was set up under the premise that us citizens could not be trusted to be intellegent enough to cast votes in the best interest of the country. And yes, there was one election that was won via the Electorial College not popular vote.