Do ISP's collect and analyze traffic of users?

Sun Jun 11 22:34:18 UTC 2023

> On May 16, 2023, at 2:57 PM, Michael Thomas <mike at mtcc.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> On 5/16/23 7:35 AM, Livingood, Jason via NANOG wrote:
>> +1 to what Josh writes below. I would also differentiate between mobile networks (service provisioned to individual devices & often carrier s/w on the device) and wireline networks (home devices behind a router/gateway/NAT).
>>  
>> I just don't think sale of data is a business for wireline ISPs. If it were - given most companies are public - you'd see it in SEC 10K filings and on earnings calls. Indeed, they'd be required to talk about it with investors if it was a material revenue stream. I see none of that. Rather, the focus is on subscription revenue. If you want to know about data monetization - focus on services you don't pay for...
>> 
> Why would there be a difference between wireless and wired? 

If you purchase MVNO from someone, those providers may do something else.  I think it’s also a bit interesting because some providers previously attempted to monetize this data, either through DNS wildcarding vs NXDOMAIN.  If it’s just generic “someone asked for this name” vs “this CIDR or IP requested data”.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/03/11/1813226/crowdsourcing-confirms-websites-inaccessible-on-comcast

A reminder that what’s old is new again on the internet, so I’m sure we’ll see things come back around, bad ideas continue to come up with revenue ideas.

- Jared