ISPs Sell "Clickstreams"

["Richard Maxwell Underwood" <sielskr@xxxxxxxxx>]

Here is a development that erodes privacy, which Tor can reverse.

>At the Open Data 2007 conference in New York today, David Cancel, the CEO of
>Compete Inc. revealed that ISPs happily sell clickstream data -- and that it's
>a big business. They don't sell your name -- just your clicks -- but the
>clicks are tied to you as a specific user (User 1, User 2, etc.).
>
>How much are your clicks worth? About 40 cents a month per user (per
>customer)... and the Compete CEO estimates that there are 10-12 big buyers
>of this data. In other words, your ISP is probably making about $5 a month
>($60 a year) off your clickstreams.

More at http://internet.seekingalpha.com/article/29449