50% Say They Would Pay Their ISP More For Privacy

92% of Americans believe their internet provider should not be allowed to monitor their activity online and sell the data to third parties without consumer consent, according to a recent study by Comparitech. The company says it questioned around 1,200 Americans on privacy between the time Congress voted along party lines to kill FCC broadband privacy protections -- and when rules repeal was signed into law by President Donald Trump.

Previous polls had already found that the majority of Democrats, Republicans and Independents opposed the removal of the rules , which was lobbied heavily for by giant ISPs like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast.

ISPs falsely argued that the elimination of the rules won't hurt consumers because the FTC will rush in to fill in the enforcement gaps, ignoring the fact that the FTC has no rule-making authority, is already over-extended, and can only act in instances where something is considered "unfair or deceptive." ISPs also ignored that, thanks to ISP lobbyists, ISPs can also lean on common carrier exemptions to dodge most FTC oversight entirely.

Make no mistake: ISPs lobbied for the changes because they want less oversight of one of the least competitive -- and most anti-competitive -- industries in America.

Despite claiming to have an interest in privacy, the survey found that more than half of those polled weren't even aware the rollback of the rules was occurring. That was quite by design, as ISP lobbyists (and the lawmakers that love their campaign contributions) rushed the vote through under cover of debate over health care.

Interestingly, the survey also found that nearly half of all consumers would be willing to pay their ISP more to protect their privacy. That's surely music to the ears of companies like AT&T, the former of which has already experimented with charging consumers more to opt out of targeted ads (though data on these users was still collected). Comcast has expressed interest in this idea as well.

Unfortunately, this would, in effect, make privacy a luxury option for only those consumers that can afford it. That 50% of survey respondents actually understood this fact isn't entirely clear.

The survey also found that:

• Four out of five Americans said that if their Representative or Senator voted in favor of the bill, it would dissuade them from voting for them in the future

• Three out of five respondents said they would pay for a VPN subscription to maintain their privacy

• Six out of ten respondents, both men and women, said they would change their browsing habits under the new law

The company was quick to point out that the combination of less regulatory oversight and limited competition in the space doesn't end well for consumers.

“The power, effectively, has now been handed to the ISPs who hold regional monopolies or duopolies, making it extremely difficult for new, smaller competitors to enter the market,” notes Comparitech's Paul Bischoff. "In addition, ISPs now have the mentality to go and sacrifice privacy for profits, making it a nightmare for customers who may want to switch providers."