A coalition of investors have filed shareholder resolutions with 10 major U.S. Internet service providers, urging their corporate boards to report on the impact of the companies’ use of deep packet inspection for Internet network management on the freedom of expression and privacy of their customers. The effort was organized by the Open Media and Information Companies initiative (OpenMIC).
A spokesperson for one of the investor groups, Farnum Brown of Trillium Asset Management, said: “These companies have responded to the challenges of managing the Internet in a patchwork, ad hoc fashion. In so doing they've failed to notice the profound social policy issues they've unwittingly engaged. Americans are concerned about how their use of the Internet is monitored. They're concerned about whether their privacy and freedom of expression are respected by the companies that manage the Internet. We as shareholders believe it is in these companies' best business interests to respond to those concerns.”