The problem with America is there is no competition in most areas. When there is it's usually just two big providers you're stuck picking between and they will both tell you to sod off. If this were many other parts of the world that have dealt with the monopoly problem correctly, by splitting the provision of wholesale last mile service from the retail ISP service there could be a market overnight for ISPs that respect your privacy. But we don't have that. We have a vertical monopoly. That means we need regulation to protect consumers. But now we can't rely on regulation either.

How nice you can do that. I'll just call 1-800-COMCAST and see what they have to say. I mean, if I cancel, I guess I can get DSL at a tenth of the speed maybe.

How will you know if they do start selling the data. Plans change when someone comes knocking with a large bag of cash (theoretically).