Don't fall for the trap!

It's great isn't it? When you sign up for Internet service and get online the first time, they helpfully provide you an e-mail account to use for free! Of course, almost all online e-mail accounts are free, but your isp makes it easy by giving you software that sets your homepage to their service with quick links into your e-mail. Heck, they practically PUSH you right into it.

The problem comes in when you inevitably find a better deal and want to switch services. It's a pain to change e-mail accounts particularly if you started using it for your business. But most ISPs won't let you keep your account once you cancel service. You either have to give it up or pay a monthly fee to access it. Now… you're trapped.

I have known people who have paid over $15 a month to their prior ISP just so they could keep the account active! So much for saving money with a different provider. In fact, there's a lot of people who, after doing the math, decide it's really not worth switching at all. On an unrelated note, I wonder how these companies decide how much to charge for e-mail service without Internet… hmm…

Avoid the Trap

All thinly veiled accusations aside, it's simple to just avoid the trap in the first place. Never, EVER, use the e-mail provided by your Internet service (unless you think it would make a good decoy account and it doesn't list your real name).

It's simple and it's free to get e-mail service from any number of well-known providers online: Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo etc. I've used all three and they each have their advantages and disadvantages, but the key is that they all work regardless of any ISP you use.

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Did you know that you could get DSL service WITHOUT having to have a phone land line with the same company? Probably not since the phone company won't tell you. Check out this article for tips on how to teach the "Customer Service Reps" what and how to do it.

They dropped their "don't be evil" motto for a reason

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Google has been inappropriately storing your search records for a long time now, but it looks like they're far from being the only one.

(Image is in the Public Domain)

The FBI, which is proving to to be the worst thing to happen to America since dubya, is pushing for laws that will require your Internet Service Providers to record all that you do and make it available for police review.

"Records retention by ISPs would be tremendously helpful in giving us a historic basis to make a case on a number of child pornographers who use the Internet to push their pornography" or lure children, Mueller said.

Yes it would. But it would also allow them to many other things that might not be so justified. If we've learned anything, its that the FBI can't be trusted with unchecked snooping powers.

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Some marketing research firms are working with ISPs to track all data transmitted over your Internet connection to build profiles of you by which to advertise more junk. On the question of how they'll protect your privacy, the companies said:

First, every user in the NebuAd system is identified by a number that the company assigns rather than an Internet address, which in theory could be traced to a person. The number NebuAd assigns cannot be tracked to a specific address. That way, if the company's data is stolen or leaked, no one could identify customers or the Web sites they've visited, Dykes said.

Oh right. Because that worked so well before.

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Wired.com recently did a survey among major Internet providers to see how well they support privacy. Of the few that responded at all, many of the answers were vague or evasive. Some of the questions included:

• How long the ISP stores the unique IP address that the customer used (which can be used to track actions to you individually).
• Whether they keep information on all the URLs (web sites) that customers visit).
• Whether they sell customer data to third parties.

Out of the companies, only Cox was forthcoming and actually had policies that were close to good.