T AT&T Inc

AT&T Inc. plans to discontinue a program that collected web-browsing data from broadband customers or required them to pay a higher monthly rate.

The program, introduced in late 2013, charges $29 for households that prefer to withhold their data from the telecom giant. But the company is dropping both the fee and the data collection itself.

AT&T has been rolling out super fast gigabit broadband in many of its markets and used the data to support its targeted advertising efforts.

For example, its GigaPower service in Austin, Texas, costs $70 a month--the same as rival Google—but that price included the data collection program called Internet Preferences. The cost was $99 for those declining the program. Now, those users will pay $70 and not have data collected.

"We plan to end the optional Internet Preferences advertising program related to our fastest internet speed tiers," a company spokesman said. "We'll begin communicating this update to customers early next week."

The company said it was making the move to simplify its offerings to customers. The news was earlier reported by tech-news site Ars Technica.

AT&T's collection included search terms, webpages visited and links clicked. The tracking remained in effect even if a user cleared cookies, used an ad-blocking program, or switched on a browser's do-not-track settings.

AT&T's move comes as the Federal Communications Commission is weighing customer-privacy rules for internet-access providers, including a requirement to obtain customers' permission to use their data in many cases.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 30, 2016 17:25 ET (21:25 GMT)

AT&T (NYSE:T)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024

AT&T (NYSE:T)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024