Privacy means EVERYTHING to Echo Networks

We do not engage in profiling activities
No private or personal information is collected by any of our services

Quick Overview

Our services do NOT share private, personal information or data with third parties.
Our services do NOT believe in the business of profiling and will not partake in such activities.
Our software and our hardware do not and cannot monitor personal use.
No code is contained or enabled which can monitor anything that could be considered as personal profiling.

Information/Data that could be shared are as follows;
In situations where multiple locations are experiencing Internet problems, the following information could be displayed on our site or shared.
-No street address or personal information is shown. See the example here.
-The ID of the agent is shown otherwise, the nickname you picked, if one was assigned.
-The provider’s IP or IPs and possibly the local router’s non-routable IP when diagnosing the start/end of issues.
-A marker representing the location where the agent is installed as part of a multi-location outage and display. (See example above).

In IoGadgets, no personal information whatsoever is collected.
Smart home devices and their statuses are stored in a database.
The database data is used to keep track of device statuses and to provide historical information to members about status changes.

Profiling is simply a terrible practice

When you purchase smartwatches or phones, use devices that listen for commands, or sign up for online services over the Internet, you often have to click on AGREE at some point to use the product or service. Your click could include not only the app you are agreeing to but one or many more third parties.

By doing so, chances are extremely high that you have just given that company your blessings to log, mine, buy, sell, corroborate, and aggregate all personal information you generate when using those products or services. This kind of information is extremely personal yet we are told it’s for marketing purposes.

Countless companies engage in what is known as profiling, the buying, and selling of your habits, likes, dislikes, and what and how you use the devices and services that you have.

All of this data is bought and sold like a commodity and shared between companies giving a wildly accurate picture of who you are, what your interests are, where you frequent, who you associate with, and much more.

Why we do NOT collect such personal information

Agreements will typically say that your data will be used to better serve you ads and other information but the fact that those companies are buying and selling each other’s data. This means what you originally signed is lost as your data moves around different companies which you have never signed agreements with.

This is especially true if a company changes ownership and now owns your collected data and the previous agreement becomes null.

You then have lost total control of your data. Worse, all of the data being shared means filling in the missing pieces about your life that each company is missing. This is a terrible practice yet people keep clicking on AGREE because they want to use those products and services.

We believe that businesses need to get back to the basics and earn their money the old-fashioned way, by offering great services and earning your keep.

The Echo Networks agent

The software known as the agent is installed on a PC, server, or embedded device on a local network.

The agent is the source of the test and our networks are the destination of the tests. The agent tests Internet connectivity from your location, through your provider, to their higher-level provider, and so on until it reaches our network.

When the agent recognizes it cannot reach a location on the Internet, it begins a process to determine when, where, why, and with whom the problem is based entirely on standard well-known TCP/IP protocols.

Our code uses standard tests with a mix of customized tests and algorithms to determine what the problem is, log all info possible about it then display that information in your dashboard.

The agent does not and cannot monitor personal data

Agents are installed as a ‘client’ on your network and do not have access to anything other than basic TCP/IP connectivity on that device alone.

The software does not do any packet inspections of any kind whatsoever. Agents are not able to view packets from other activities on your network because the data flowing on your network is not flowing through the agent making it impossible for the agent to monitor anything other than its connectivity data.

In modern hardware, what you connect the agent to is likely what is known as a switched port where each device has no access to other devices unless you have configured them to communicate together.

No matter if the agent is installed on your PC or if you purchased one of our hardware devices, the method and functionality are the same. The hardware agent provides additional features to motivate consumers to use them rather than PCs as they run 24/7 without missing a beat, are self-updating, and use less than one amp of power. Hardware agents take good advantage of the service.

What the agent does collect and why

Echo Networks is not interested in personal activity, only in how your Internet services, provider, and higher-level providers are performing. The service is about troubleshooting Internet/IP connectivity only and not how Internet services are used.

The agent collects Internet connectivity data only. Your Internet connection performance data is shown in your dashboard. Details include your local network IP, your public IP, and your provider’s IPs which are used to generate your reports.

Reports show when problems are on your local network, with your provider, and beyond. Without your local network and provider IP, the agent could not determine where connectivity problems are originating from.

Your connection performance data can be aggregated to show that others in your area are experiencing similar problems. This would show as multiple icons on your map in your agent dashboard.

The same reports you see for your agent/s can be combined with ports to provide a wider range, helping to determine whether one or more providers are experiencing larger-scale disconnections, outages, or other issues.

What performance data could be shared?

Some of this data may be shared for analysis using third-party analytics companies to gather additional details for better overall reports. Such companies provide services such as Google map, IP lookup services, IP/geo-location services, all tools that are used daily by IT support admins around the world.

Does your street address or sign-up information show anywhere?

No, the street address you entered for the agent is not public.

In our early versions of the service, we allowed members to enter their location details. Many would abbreviate or use different words which prevented correlating problems in your areas. Using Google Maps allowed us to have consistent location and time zone details.

The street address and sign-up information are considered personal information and are never shared.

As mentioned at the top of this page, the only two pieces of data that could show up in public or for third parties we work with.

-A marker on a Google map showing your location along with others in the area experiencing problems
-The nickname of your agent if you filled one in otherwise it will show the ID only. Just don’t make it too personal.
-The LAN IP of the agent and the local router/firewall to determine if problems are on your local network or with the provider.

Account details are not shared with anyone. There is no requirement in any part of the service that needs to use or show your personal information other than admins or support reaching out to you for a service-related matter.

We do not share, sell, or otherwise make available personal details such as a name, address, or phone.

We have never (as of 2021) shared email addresses though may consider doing so IF the third party can provide a guarantee that they will not in turn re-sell such information to additional third parties. This may be done only if there is a benefit to be had for our members and for our service in the form of reviews or other information that could help the service.

Sharing your reports

Feel free to share your reports with others, on your provider’s social media pages, or anywhere that could help you or others. Your reports will never show your actual address, only a map location where the agent is installed. You may screen capture or use the download function that is provided specifically to allow you to share your reports.