If the Internet is going to claim my privacy anyway, why not take the discount and pretend I’m happy? I’m talking about AT&T’s pricing for its 1Gbps Uverse Gigapower broadband. So named, I suspect because AT&T gigs you since they have the power.

AT&T is offering a $29 monthly discount on the $139 fee, provided you are willing to allow AT&T to monitor all your traffic and mine it for advertising leads. How this is different from what the NSA was accused of doing  to keep us safe from terrorists I am not sure.

Perhaps if the NSA had offered each of us $29-a-month, everything would have been OK?

Here’s the news: AT&T, in rolling out its 1Gbps fiber optic service in Cupertino, announced $139/month pricing, discounted to $110 for those willing to allow AT&T to monitor their browsing habits and look at other data, as well. Slate’s David Auerbach adds more of a chill to the story than I will in this post.

Gigapower is now available in six markets — Texas, Missouri and North Carolina — with 10 more planned to roll-out in coming months.

AT&T, of course, says your data will be secure and won’t be sold, but does anybody really believe this? Never a data breach? And how will AT&T respond to court orders? Will anything change with all this new data?

I’ve long been convinced that if people knew what corporations were doing with their data they’d like the NSA a whole lot more. We have the Ed Snowden’s of the world to warn us about government, but where is a Snowden where corporate use and misuse of personal data is concerned? And does anybody read those privacy policies? Most just routinely click “yes” when they appear on-screen. What are they doing to us and would resistance actually be possible?

We — at least some of us — say we are very concerned about privacy. But, most of us don’t show it, and our behavior does not seem to change because of privacy concerns. Identity theft concerns will move us, but privacy includes a much larger territory than identity crimes.

Call me fatalistic, but I am not sure what information AT&T will be gathering that Google doesn’t already have. Google gives me search and mail and apps, and probably several things I’ve forgotten. In return, Google right now makes sure I see pet insurance ads on almost every website that I visit. And I never even shopped for pet insurance.

Living in the sticks, as I do, I am not expecting to be confronted with AT&T’s privacy “deal”  very soon. By that time, I can base my decision on what others find, but my sense is that if I can’t save my privacy — that ship has sailed — at least I can save some money.

photo credit: Nick Kenrick. via photopin cc