Full Channel: We won’t sell your private Internet data

Local provider says customers have nothing to fear after Trump Internet privacy repeal

By Ted Hayes

thayes@eastbaynewspapers.com

Full Channel TV’s Internet customers in Barrington, Bristol and Warren don’t have to worry about their private browsing data being sold, despite a recent congressional vote that makes it legal for service providers to sell that sensitive data.

This week, Levi Maaia, president of Full Channel Labs, said that despite Congress’s recent vote to repeal Federal Communications Commission privacy rules enacted at the tail end of the Obama administration, “Full Channel does not have any intentions to capture and sell our customers’ web browsing history or online habits, regardless of these changes to regulations.”

Civil libertarians, Internet privacy advocates and technology bloggers had all decried the move, saying the repeal of those privacy restrictions will harm untold numbers of Americans. President Donald Trump signed the repeal into law Monday.

With the elimination of broadband privacy rules, many analysts expect that Internet providers will begin collecting and selling customers’ browsing habits, app usage history, location information and other user data. However, Mr. Maaia said such actions have never fit with the company’s consumer protection and privacy philosophy, even when compliance with the rules was not required by law.

“We believe Full Channel’s policies set us apart from other internet providers that are racing to mine customer information for profit,” he said.

“We feel it is important to reassure customers about Full Channel’s commitment to your privacy,” he added. “Over these past few years, regulations regarding traffic management, network neutrality and privacy have changed numerous times in a variety of political and regulatory environments. Even at times when compliance with the policies outlined were not required by law, Full Channel has always maintained the strictest standards detailed in the Open Internet Disclosure and our Privacy Policy.”

While the Obama-era privacy rules blocked internet service providers from gathering certain data from its customers, in reality they did nothing to address the disclosure of personal data by the very entities already most active in the gathering of this information such as Facebook, Google and other online advertising companies that were never subject to the FCC restrictions.