The Throbbing Hive with Wits' John Moe: Somebody's Watching You
March 31, 2015
Every Tuesday at 7:30am Wits host John Moe stops into the Morning Show to share the latest news in Technology.
This week, John chatted with Jill Riley about how and why AT&T is monitoring its GigaPower users' Web habits. John also talks about a way one man has taken a creative approach to the parent-teen arguments from his youth.
Somebody's Watching You
AT&T is offering superfast Internet called "GigaPower" to keep up with Google's similar service. Oh, one thing: It will record and scan everything you do online. That's cool, right?
Then AT&T will use it to sell you ads.
With AT&T, all your Internet traffic goes through AT&T servers before connecting to the site you want: What websites you visit, what you're searching for, etc.
The policy is not driven by prurient interests, but by economics: If AT&T knows you're always looking for shoes, it will sell advertisements for shoes to appear when you browse the web.
If you want to opt out, it'll cost you an extra $744 a year. It's a privacy fee.
Google does the same thing on Google websites but not on the whole Internet.
Being creative with parent-teen arguments
This guy Mike Cohen, a rock DJ, recorded his parents arguing with him from the time he was 12 to the time he was 28. Now he's having some of those arguments animated by cartoonist Rodd Perry.
John Moe hosts Wits at the Fitzgerald Theater. Check out video, photos and archived audio from previous shows and buy tickets for the current season at the Wits page. He also hosts the Home Dunk podcast from Infinite Guest.