Large ISPs endorse customer opt-in for Web tracking

about their subscribers unrelated to targeted advertising. AT&T does collect "lots of information" for purposes such as improving service, Attwood said, but she didn't elaborate further.

While the ISPs and some committee Republicans called for ISPs to create their own privacy guidelines, Gigi Sohn, president of consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge, called herself "the skunk at the self-regulatory party."

The ISPs suggested competitive pressures will force them to stick to privacy best practices. Sohn disagreed. "The problem is, at least in broadband, that there isn't that much competition," she said. "The notion that there's going to be this competitive pressure -- I'm dubious."