(This quote is not directly from the source I'm linking, you'll have to click through.)

At the Open Data 2007 conference in New York today, David Cancel, the CEO of Compete Inc. revealed that ISPs happily sell clickstream data -- and that it's a big business. They don't sell your name -- just your clicks -- but the clicks are tied to you as a specific user (User 1, User 2, etc.).

Holy Fuck! This is a major, major privacy issue. Apparently there are some MemeStreams readers who either use the Compete toolbar (which is not a problem unless you are fooled into installing it) or have their ISPs quietly spying on them and selling the data to Compete (which IS a BIG problem). I expect that there is going to be some fallout from this announcement.

Boing Boing: Are some ISPs selling clickstream data?