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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Internet and Telecommunication |
| Founded | September 1994 |
| Founders |
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| Headquarters | , |
Area served | California |
Key people |
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| Website | www |
Sonic is a telecommunications company and internet service provider based in Santa Rosa, California, acting as a competitive local exchange carrier in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, and Los Angeles. They are most well known for defending privacy. [1] [2]
Sonic began as an effort to bring network connectivity and Internet access to staff and students at the campus of Santa Rosa Junior College. In 1994, Sonic began formal Internet operations by way of a partnership between Dane Jasper and Scott Doty, both of whom had worked on the network at the college. [3] In 1995, Sonic moved into its downtown Santa Rosa location. [4]
In 2011, after becoming concerned about increasing requests for users' data by private law firms, mostly related to copyright infringement involving pornography, Sonic cut the time it stores logs of user activity to two weeks. [5] [6]
Later in 2011, the US federal government forced Sonic and Google to provide e-mail addresses of people who had corresponded with WikiLeaks volunteer and Tor developer Jacob Appelbaum. Sonic and Google fought the secret court order, which then-CEO Dane Jasper characterized as "rather expensive, but the right thing to do," and the court agreed to lift the seal on the Sonic order to give Appelbaum a copy of it. [7] [8]
In 2012, Jasper told TorrentFreak that Sonic would not be participating in the so-called "six strikes" plan, in which major US internet service providers would begin to warn and punish people suspected of infringing copyrights, saying that ISPs are not equipped to police the actions of individuals, and that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) had not invited small, independent ISPs to participate. [9]
In 2013, Sonic's then-CEO Dane Jasper made comments about expanding into Los Angeles. [10]
In late 2013, Sonic began making fiber-optic connections to its existing data network passing 700 homes in Sebastopol. [10]
In late 2014, Sonic.net rebranded as Sonic, after acquiring sonic.com and the @sonic Twitter handle. [11]
In April 2015, the company partnered with AT&T to expand service, using fiber-to-the-node. Due to this partnership, Sonic customers connected via that service are required to comply with AT&T's upstream policies, and may be subject to government spying. Sonic customers can utilize a VPN to avoid AT&T policies, and Sonic requires a lawful court order for any information requested by law enforcement. [12]
In December 2018, Sonic announced a partnership with Eero—now owned by Amazon—creator of the first whole-home WiFi mesh system, to improve WiFi connectivity across the entire home. [13] [14]
Sonic has 175 employees and generates $21,000,000 annually in a 2009 fiscal report. 4 million people across the San Francisco Bay Area are using Sonic.net services. [10] The company's CEO Nathan Patrick was previously the CTO. [15]
Sonic offers a number of services including: