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New Federal Trade Commission report looks at what top US Internet providers know about us – far more than we think!

Ninety-three percent of  US adults use the internet, on average for close to seven hours each day.  Rapid consolidation of telecom providers has allowed ISPs to access and control more consumer data than ever before – without saying what they have and how they use it. The Federal Trade Commission spent two years nvestigating this and just issues its report.  Among findings: 1) some ISPs combine data across product lines, including data unnecessary for provision of services; 2) many use sensitive characteristics to target ads; 3) some combine personal, app usage, and web browsing data; 4) a significant number share real-time location data with third parties;  4) even those that say they won’t “sell data,” often fail to tell consumers how their data is used, transferred to monitized; 5)  many could delete data they hold, but don’t choose to do so. And, if that weren’t enough, the FTC found many gather and use data in ways customers don’t expect and could cause them harm.