Telecom Package Deals Sacrifice Privacy

You've surely received mailers or other reminders from telephone and cable companies offering "all-in-one" packages of telephone, television, and Internet services, with the package offered at a significant discount to the services priced individually.

But if read the privacy policies from the companies offering these packages, you'll may find that the providers may have the right to track what you watch on television and whom you call, in addition to monitoring which Web sites you visit, and what you buy online.  Some companies even reserve the right to read your e-mail.  This information belongs to the company, and may be used for any purpose provided for in the service contract, including selling your telecom profile to marketing companies or turning over the records to private investigators or the government. 

For instance, Time Warner Cable, which offers a combined telephone, television, and video service, says it may track "Internet addresses you contact and the duration of your visits to such addresses."  Time Warner says it "does not use or disclose any personally identifiable information that may be derived from these logs for marketing, advertising or similar purposes."  But, its "Affiliated Internet Service Providers" may monitor "information you publish on the ISP Service," which I interpret as giving the company permission to read your e-mail.  Further, it may retain "personally identifiable information" about your account for up to 15 years after you end your business relationship with the company.

Satellite television provider DirecTV says that it "may share customer information, including programming purchases, with selected media, entertainment, and other similar service providers."  However, you may "block the collection of Anonymous Viewing Information from your DIRECTV Receiver."

AT&T Yahoo! and Video Services goes farthest of all: it stipulates that, with respect to its Internet and video services, "while your Account Information may be personal to you, these records constitute business records that are owned by AT&T."  In other words, if you use AT&T's Internet or video services, the company owns, without reservation, your private data.

When you sign up for telecom services, you're stuck with whatever data collection and distribution policies the companies you choose have in effect.  However, some companies, like DirecTV, give you the option of blocking some types of information sharing.  I highly recommend doing so.

A better, albeit more expensive and time-consuming option, is to choose different companies to provide each telecom service you need.  For instance, you could use one company for local telephone service, but not use their cellular or long-distance services.  Purchase these separately, and if you value your privacy, choose pre-paid cellular and pre-paid long-distance services that you can purchase anonymously. 

Otherwise, your loss of privacy may be a package deal as well.

Copyright © 2007 by Mark Nestmann