A Look At What ISPs Know About You - Federal Trade Commission

A Look At What ISPs Know About You:

Examining the Privacy Practices of Six Major Internet Service Providers

An FTC Staff Report

October 21, 2021

A Look At What ISPs Know About You:

Examining the Privacy Practices of Six Major Internet Service Providers

An FTC Staff Report

October 21, 2021

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary.................................................................................................................. i

I. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1

II. Legal Framework Applicable to ISP Privacy................................................................. 4

A. Historical Developments............................................................................................ 4 B. Legal Framework Applicable to ISPs Today.............................................................. 6

III. Background Information About Order Recipients ..................................................... 10

IV. Information Obtained From Our Study........................................................................ 14

A. Core Services.......................................................................................................... 15 B. Other Services Offered to Consumers .................................................................... 17 C. Advertising Services................................................................................................ 18

1. Marketing Their Own Products and Services.................................................... 20 2. Advertising Third-Party Products and Services ................................................ 22 3. Other Services Offered to Businesses.............................................................. 24 4. Contractual Limitations on Use and Sharing..................................................... 26 D. Privacy Practices..................................................................................................... 26 1. Opacity ............................................................................................................. 26 2. Illusory Choices ................................................................................................ 27 3. Lack of Meaningful Access ............................................................................... 30 4. Data Retention and Deletion............................................................................. 31 5. Accountability ................................................................................................... 32

V. Observations ................................................................................................................. 33

A. Many ISPs in our Study Amass Large Pools of Sensitive Consumer Data ............. 33 B. Several ISPs in Our Study Gather and Use Data In Ways Consumers Do Not

and Could Cause Them Harm ................................................................................ 34

C. Although Many ISPs in Our Study Purport to Offer Consumers Choices, These Choices are Often Illusory ........................................................................... 39

D. Many ISPs in Our Study Can Be At Least As Privacy-Intrusive as Large Advertising Platforms.............................................................................................. 42

VI. Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 44

APPENDIX A: Text of the Model Order ................................................................. A-1 APPENDIX B: Illustrative List of Segments........................................................... B-1

Executive Summary

Examining the Privacy Practices of Six Major Internet Service Providers

The importance of the internet in the daily lives of consumers cannot be overstated. In its

relatively brief existence, it has become a vital tool for communication, information, commerce, and entertainment. Approximately 93% of adults in the United States use the internet,1 and the average consumer spends six hours and fifty-six minutes online each day.2 As the direct gateways to this

essential and ubiquitous tool, internet service providers ("ISPs") can monitor and record their customers'

every online move, giving them the ability to surveil consumers and amass large amounts of information

on them as they go about their daily lives. In addition to providing internet, voice, and cable access,

these gatekeepers have also become major players in content creation and ad monetization.

Over the past few decades, the telecommunications industry has evolved into vertically-

integrated platforms that provide internet, cable, content, distribution, advertising, and analytics--all of

which has increased the volume of information available about consumers, improved the industry's

insights into consumers' behaviors, and strengthened the persistence of identifiers capable of tracking

users across platforms and assets. For example, in 2011, Comcast acquired NBC Universal, marking the first time a cable company controlled a major broadcast network.3 Verizon purchased AOL in 2015,

combining one of the biggest mobile network providers with a leading content producer, and Yahoo in 2017, creating a diverse house of more than fifty media and technology brands.4 And in 2020, Amazon

received approval to deploy and operate 3,236 satellites, allowing it to deliver satellite-based broadband services in the United States.5 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.

1 Internet/Broadband Fact Sheet, PEW RESEARCH CTR. (Apr. 7, 2021), .

2 Simon Kemp, Digital 2021 April Global Statshot Report, DATAREPORTAL (Apr. 21, 2021), .

3 Tim Arango & Brian Stelter, Comcast Receives Approval for NBC Universal Merger, N.Y. TIMES (Jan. 19, 2011), .

4 See Ben Rooney, Verizon Buys AOL for $4.4 billion, CNN BUS. (May 12, 2015), ; Press Release, Verizon, Verizon Completes Yahoo Acquisition, Creating a Diverse House of 50+ Brands Under New Oath Subsidiary (June 13, 2017), . In September 2021, private equity firm Apollo Global Management acquired Yahoo (formerly known as Verizon Media Group, itself formerly known as Oath) from Verizon. See Brian Heater & Ingrid Lunden, Apollo Completes Its $5B Acquisition of Verizon Media, Now Known as Yahoo, TECHCRUNCH (Sep. 1, 2021), .

5 Amazon Staff, Amazon Receives FCC Approval for Project Kuiper Satellite Constellation, AMAZON (July 30, 2020), .

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