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With Washington’s Blessing, Telecom Giants Can Mine Your Web History
Congress’s repeal of FCC privacy rules could be data boon for Verizon, Comcast, AT&T
Wall Street Journal
by Jack Marshall
3/30/2017
Excerpt:
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Lawmakers on Tuesday voted to overturn privacy rules that required telecom companies to get customers’ permission before sharing their web-browsing and app usage history with third parties. The White House said Wednesday President Donald Trump intends to sign the measure into law.
Undoing the rules, which had been adopted last fall by the Federal Communications Commission but hadn’t gone into effect, is a boon to Verizon Communications Inc., VZ Comcast Corp. CMCSA and AT&T Inc., which are all in the process of building data-driven digital ad businesses to complement the broadband, wireless and TV services they offer.
The telecom providers had argued the rules put them at a competitive disadvantage to online ad giants Google and Facebook, which generally aren’t regulated by the FCC.
Google and Facebook have built huge businesses powered by reams of data they collect about consumers’ online actions, both on their own properties and across the web. That trove of information largely explains their dominance -- combined, they have a roughly 47% share of the global digital ad market, according to eMarketer.
But online advertising executives say telecom providers potentially have access to more powerful data than the two tech powerhouses. Their networks -- both wired and wireless -- could give them a window into nearly everything a user is doing on the web.
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View the complete article including image, links and comments at:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/with-wa...ory-1490869801
Congress’s repeal of FCC privacy rules could be data boon for Verizon, Comcast, AT&T
Wall Street Journal
by Jack Marshall
3/30/2017
Excerpt:
.................................................. ................
Lawmakers on Tuesday voted to overturn privacy rules that required telecom companies to get customers’ permission before sharing their web-browsing and app usage history with third parties. The White House said Wednesday President Donald Trump intends to sign the measure into law.
Undoing the rules, which had been adopted last fall by the Federal Communications Commission but hadn’t gone into effect, is a boon to Verizon Communications Inc., VZ Comcast Corp. CMCSA and AT&T Inc., which are all in the process of building data-driven digital ad businesses to complement the broadband, wireless and TV services they offer.
The telecom providers had argued the rules put them at a competitive disadvantage to online ad giants Google and Facebook, which generally aren’t regulated by the FCC.
Google and Facebook have built huge businesses powered by reams of data they collect about consumers’ online actions, both on their own properties and across the web. That trove of information largely explains their dominance -- combined, they have a roughly 47% share of the global digital ad market, according to eMarketer.
But online advertising executives say telecom providers potentially have access to more powerful data than the two tech powerhouses. Their networks -- both wired and wireless -- could give them a window into nearly everything a user is doing on the web.
.................................................. ............................
View the complete article including image, links and comments at:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/with-wa...ory-1490869801