Much attention has been paid to the pervasive surveillance consumers face from social media companies, but a recent study from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) suggests that internet providers may know just as much, if not more, about their users.
Differing from social media platforms and most other websites, internet service providers (ISPs) provide access to the infrastructure powering the internet. As such, ISPs have access to all unencrypted internet traffic taking place over their networks.
Because ISPs own and operate internet infrastructure, there is little consumers can do to prevent them from collecting personal data, according to an Oct. 21 FTC report.
“Unlike many other entities, these ISPs have access to each of the websites a consumer visits, and they can target based on subscriber information,” the FTC report said, using the analogy of how recipients of mail can’t hide their address from a letter carrier.
“Notably, unlike traditional ad networks whose tracking consumers can block through browser or mobile device settings, consumers cannot use these tools to stop tracking by these ISPs, which use ‘supercookie’ technology to persistently track users.”
This state of affairs has led to what the FTC called “troubling” data collection practices among these companies: including mixing data across product lines; combining personal, app usage, and web browsing data to target ads; placing consumers into sensitive categories such as by race and sexual orientation; and sharing real-time location data with third parties.
ability for ISPs to granularly track consumers is heightened further by the fact that many of them offer various other services such as video streaming, content creation, advertising, email, search, and wearables, the report added.
For instance, Google offers Gmail and YouTube, while also operating the internet provider Google Fiber in many parts of the country. Additionally, the ISP Comcast owns NBC Universal, Verizon purchased AOL in 2015 before selling it earlier this year, and Amazon received approval last year to deploy and operate 3,236 satellites to deliver broadband services in the United States.
“This rapid consolidation has allowed ISPs to access and control a much larger and broader cache of consumer data than ever before, without having to explain fully their purposes for such collection and use, much less whether such collection and use is good for consumers,” the report said.
“This means a single ISP has the ability to track the websites their subscribers visit, the shows they watch, the apps they use, their energy habits, their real-time whereabouts and historical location, the search queries they make, and the contents of their email communications,” the report added.
According to the report, one ISP told the FTC that is does not combine data from its various services, but three others admitted to doing so. FTC’s report is based on information provided by six major ISPs: AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Charter Communications Operating LLC, Xfinity, T-Mobile US, and Google Fiber. report did not say which specific ISPs engage in specific data-collection practices.
ability for ISPs to monetize data was enhanced following Congress passing a joint resolution in 2017, repealing Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules prohibiting ISPs from selling consumer personal information. ISPs had argued for the repeal on the grounds that they should be on equal footing with other internet operators.
Some states have responded with laws seeking to regulate how ISPs use data. Maine, for instance, passed a law in 2019 preventing ISPs from using, disclosing, selling or permitting access to customer personal information unless customers consent to them doing so.
FTC report did not make any policy recommendations, but commission chair Lina Khan suggested in a statement that further antitrust scrutiny should be placed on ISPs that offer a variety of other services.
“Internet service providers today have access to not only what websites you visit and your location at any given moment but also the content of the emails you write, the videos you stream, and the devices you wear,” Khan said.
“ ways in which expansion across markets enables firms to combine highly sensitive–and, often, highly valuable–commercial data underscores the need for us to consider in our merger review process how certain deals may enable degradation of user privacy.”
As for consumers, the report suggested that they could protect their privacy from ISPs by using virtual private networks (VPNs)—tools that provide what amounts to a private, encrypted network over the public internet. However, the report noted that only about six percent of Americans use VPNs because most are subscription services.
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