How deep packet inspection changed the privacy debate

Online advertisers have relied upon contextual and behavioral advertising techniques to target ads to users. The FTC and Congress have been relatively inactive in addressing privacy concerns around these techniques, but this activity level might change with the integration of DPI into the advertising toolkit.

The analysis of whether and how DPI has impacted the American privacy debate revolves around NebuAd, a now-defunct advertising company that integrated DPI systems into ISPs networks to track and modify ISP customers’ data traffic. As it became public knowledge that NebuAd was examining and modifying data traffic, largely because civil advocates exposed the practices, Congress held a series of hearings that evaluated the company and (more generally) the technologies that were driving its advertising model. The brief placement of DPI and behavioral tracking onto the federal agenda educated Congressional legislators about technical, privacy, and legal considerations surrounding the technology (an interest that has been sustained since this article’s publication). Legislators criticized ISPs that worked with NebuAd on the basis that they provided insufficient notification; simply updating a many-thousand word privacy policy was recognized as insufficient notice. The authors refrain from suggesting how subsequent policy streams will take up DPI and, instead, conservatively state that DPI will remain a “controversial practice” that will “keep a variety of players in the online privacy debate engaged for years to come” (13). This has certainly been the case, with anti-tracking and pro-privacy legislation repeatedly making its way to the House floor since NebuAd’s actions came to light.

Bibliographic information:

Del Sesto Jr., Ronald W. & Frankel, Jon. (2008). How deep packet inspection changed the privacy debate. Bingham (Law Firm). September 2008. Retrieved July 17, 2010 from http://www.bingham.com/Media.aspx?MediaId=7514

If you’re interested in downloading Christopher Parsons’ full annotated bibliography about deep packet inspection, click here.