Does Hughes Sell Browsing Data ?

[ecoalex2]

The Senate just passed a bill to allow sales of ISP data to others.

Does Hughes sell user data?

[maratsade]

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@ecoalex2 wrote:

Thank You Lori. I agree, if the policy regarding browsing history is released to commercial interests, we should be sent a ntifiication. I would hope other requests for our history say from the NSA, or other authorities, we also should be notified.

We all can hope Hughes lives up to their agreement with the subscribers, whether selling, or sharing actually happens, could occur easily with out our knowledge. Hughes holds all the cards.

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They would be likely unable to notify users if law enforcement subpoenas information.

[BirdDog]

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@maratsade wrote:

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@ecoalex2 wrote:

Thank You Lori. I agree, if the policy regarding browsing history is released to commercial interests, we should be sent a ntifiication. I would hope other requests for our history say from the NSA, or other authorities, we also should be notified.

We all can hope Hughes lives up to their agreement with the subscribers, whether selling, or sharing actually happens, could occur easily with out our knowledge. Hughes holds all the cards.

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They would be likely unable to notify users if law enforcement subpoenas information.

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That's a different situation entirely. What the new ruling does is allow selling information to companies for commercial profit, not criminal investigation. I say an ISP selling data strictly so those buyers and the ISP can profit is just wrong morally IMO.

[maratsade]

Yes, of course. I was responding to " I would hope other requests for our history say from the NSA, or other authorities, we also should be notified."   They normally are not allowed (ETA: by the terms of the subpoena) to disclose these requests to the users.

Whether they will sell or not depends on the company's policies.  They will likely watch to see what other companies do and the legal implications of that before they decide how to proceed.

[Deb4]

Now that Trump has signed the permission, Lori, does this answer still stand?  I ask because I've seen a huge increase in my junk email this week.  I received this response from Hughesnet when I questioned them:

As you’ve correctly indicated, the HughesNet Subscriber Privacy Policy provides that Hughes will not rent, sell or share a subscriber’s Personal Information with third parties, except as may be otherwise allowed by the Policy.   Please note that Hughes considers a subscriber’s browsing history to be part of his or her Personal Information.  Consequently, we would afford the same protections to a subscriber’s browsing history as we would to any other Personal Information, such as addresses, credit card or bank account numbers, email addresses, etc.  

I would hope that the Privacy Policy will be updated to include this information if it is official.

[sod]

I've never used the Hughes for email but theres hundreds of trash mail in it when I check my account ???

[ChrisVZ]

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@Lori wrote:

Good Afternoon, 

Hughes does not rent, sell, or share your Personal Information, including your browsing history, with third parties. You can view our full privacy policy here (http://legal.hughesnet.com/SubscriberPolicies.cfm). 

Thank you, 

Lori 

Take note, the above statement states that they do not sell information, but does not state that they will not do so in the future. Reading through the link also turns up some interesting statements that I have highlighted below..

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"Hughes is committed to protecting the privacy of its subscribers. This Privacy Policy governs only Hughes’ treatment of information about subscribers to Hughes’ HughesNet service. By applying for or continuing to use the Service, you agree to the terms of this Policy, as modified from time to time. This Privacy Policy does not apply to any goods or services controlled by third parties, even if those third parties are partners of Hughes."

"Hughes reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify the terms of this Privacy Policy at any time. In the event of any material changes to the Privacy Policy, Hughes will provide notice over the Service that the Privacy Policy is being modified, and invite you to review the modified Privacy Policy at this Website. Your continued use of the Service after such notice constitutes your acceptance of the changes. You should visit this page to review the current Privacy Policy on a regular basis. The date of the last update will be posted at the end of this Privacy Policy for your convenience."

Additional Information Disclosures

Hughes may also use or disclose information about you, including your Personal Information, under the following circumstances:

– To enforce our Subscriber Agreement, Terms of Service, and/or other legal agreements;
– To outsource any of the tasks referenced in this Privacy Policy (e.g., billing, responding to inquiries);
– In response to a subpoena, court order, or other legal process;
– To establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims;
– To credit reporting agencies for reporting purposes or to obtain credit review services;*
– To a company controlled by, or under common control with, Hughes for any purpose permitted by this Privacy Policy;
– When Hughes believes such use or disclosure is (1) necessary in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding suspected illegal activities, fraud, or situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, or (2) required by law;
– In the future, we may sell some or all of our assets or reorganize our corporate structure. In such transactions, customer information generally is one of the transferred business assets. In the event of a sale or reorganization of our assets, including our database, customer information may be transferred.