Comcast, AT&T vow to protect internet privacy

Alan Diaz/Associated Press

In the aftermath of a congressional vote to scrap proposed regulations to protect the privacy of Internet users, AT&T Inc. and Comcast Corp. sought to reassure their customers that they will not sell their personal information without permission.

Earlier this week, the US House of Representatives, following the lead of the Senate, passed legislation to overturn rules issued last year by the Federal Communications Commission. The rules would have barred internet service providers like AT&T and Comcast from using or selling data about customers’ online browsing history, without the customer’s explicit permission.

Internet civil liberties groups denounced the legislation, warning that it would allow internet providers to monitor everything their customers did, and sell the data to other companies.

But on Friday Comcast published a statement on its corporate blog, vowing never to sell customers’ sensitive personal data, like names and addresses, without explicit permission. AT&T pointed to the company’s privacy policy, which pledges never to sell a customer’s personal data to other companies, under any circumstances.