U.S wireless carrier AT&T released a statement Tuesday, announcing that it “may” begin to sell information relating to its customers’ mobile usage to a collection of unnamed third-parties, on an ‘anonymous’ basis.
According to FierceWireless:
AT&T (NYSE:T) said it “may” begin selling anonymous information about its customers’ wireless and Wi-Fi locations, U-verse usage, website browsing, mobile application usage and “other information” [to] other businesses.
AT&T says it will “protect [your] privacy” in this move by “providing the data in aggregate.” This, it says, will mean that all the data sold relating to you – (its customers) – cannot be used to personally ‘identify’ any one individual.
Thankfully, AT&T is giving you the option to “opt out” from having your data sold on to these third-parties. There’s no word on how long this “opt out” clause will be sticking around for, though.
The IDC predicts the market for ‘selling data’ will reach $24 Billion by 2016.
See Also: “Here’s What 6-Months Of Meta Data On Cell Phone Activity Looks Like”