Comcast Corp. said Tuesday that it would increase how long it retains Internet user records from 31 days to 180.
The move comes in response to law enforcement officials being unable to track down information this year about someone in Colorado suspected of distributing child pornography using Comcast’s high-speed Internet service. The nation’s largest cable provider has 700,000 customers in Colorado.
Jerry Lewis, chief privacy officer for Comcast, testified at a U.S. House subcommittee hearing Tuesday that Comcast would retain only the Internet protocol address assignment of its users.
An IP address is a series of numbers assigned to a computer when it’s connected to the Internet. With the help of Internet service providers, law enforcement officials can trace an IP address used at a specific date and time to a user’s account name and address.
“Comcast holds our customers’ privacy in the highest regard,” said Sena Fitzmaurice, senior director of communications and government affairs for Comcast.
“We do not sell customer information to third parties, and only provide customer information in response to legal and law enforcement requests with a valid legal process, such as a subpoena or court order,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., is seeking legislation that would require ISPs to keep user addresses for one year.
Staff writer Kimberly S. Johnson can be reached at 303-820-1088 or kjohnson@denverpost.com.
