"More Customers Being Monitored by Their ISPs
The online behavior of a small but growing number of computer users in the
United States is monitored by their Internet service providers, who have access
to every click and keystroke that comes down the line. The companies harvest
the stream of data for clues to a person's interests, making money from
advertisers who use the information to target their online pitches." [from
GigaLaw.com]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/03/AR2008040304052.html
"Although common tracking systems, known as cookies, have counted a consumer's
visits to a network of sites, the new monitoring, known as "deep-packet
inspection," enables a far wider view -- every Web page visited, every e-mail
sent and every search entered. Every bit of data is divided into packets --
like electronic envelopes -- that the system can access and analyze for
content.
...In fact, newly proposed Federal Trade Commission guidelines for behavioral
advertising have been outpaced by the technology and do not address the
practice directly. Privacy advocates are preparing to present to Congress their
concerns that the practice is done without consumer consent and that too little
is known about whether such systems adequately protect personal information."
