Internet Providers Look To Cash In On Your Web Habits

Sarah Krouse and Patience Haggin writing for WSJ

Internet providers could learn that someone in a household is using online dating services, or deduce that a person is engaged by the number of visits to wedding-planning websites. By combining web activity with voter-registration data, a provider could theoretically identify households with a 25-year-old on the cusp of needing health insurance, and show those households ads for coverage, say ad executives and privacy advocates. In general, marketers are willing to pay a premium for such hypertargeted ads.