Arstechnica reports that RIAA and ISPs will monitor your web traffic, starting in the second quarter of this year (i.e., 2012). I feel this is a very wrong approach to stop online piracy! Online piracy isn't terrorism, and so we should not use this draconian measure in an effort to weed out online piracy, because this will make online privacy even worse than how it's now (i.e., some social networks might be too eager to implement web features that strip away better online privacy).
Do I have to worry about my normal web traffic being monitored by ISPs? Of course, normal web traffic has nothing to be worried about being flagged as traffic of pirating contents, but I have the feeling that people might not feel so good of knowing they're being watched constantly. It's the same idea as I do not want my phone company to listen into every conversation I have had or will have with my folks.
God knows what they might do with such phone conversations, right? They might store my phone conversations forever! I might have nothing to hide, but I might fear I do sound stupid during those conversations and do not ever want to be reminded of. Sure, they might not or if ever reveal those phone conversations of mine to anyone or even me, but do I want to know that they have my stupid phone conversations on record forever or however long?
You see, it's logical for people to fear that they're being watched as if they are guilty of something even though they have done nothing wrong! I don't think people will be happy if they know their ISPs are constantly watching them for the sake of the entertainment industry — but not every customer of each ISP is the customer of the entertainment industry — therefore not everyone who is the customer of an ISP should be subjected to be scrutinized for the sake of the entertainment industry!
If I'm wrong on all points, I still think ISPs' customers deserve to be treated as customers and not some criminals from the start! What do you think? You can check out Arstechnica's RIAA and ISPs to police your traffic this summer (updated) article/report to read more on ISPs to monitor your web traffic.
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