T AT&T Inc

By Thomas Gryta 

AT&T Inc. plans to discontinue collecting the web-browsing information of its broadband customers who didn't choose a higher priced internet service.

The company used the data to sell targeted advertising. It was introduced in late 2013, and charges $29 for households that prefer to withhold their data from the telecom giant. The company said it is dropping the fee and the data collection itself.

AT&T has been rolling out superfast gigabit broadband in many of its markets and used the data collection 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 technology-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.

Write to Thomas Gryta at thomas.gryta@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 01, 2016 02:48 ET (06:48 GMT)

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