Quote Originally Posted by LittleFuzzy View Post
There's value in the identifying information anyone who has your billing information has, doesn't mean they should be allowed to sell it even if it would provide lower costs for consumers. Your employer also has a lot of useful information about you, as does your insurer. Both can pass (a portion of) those benefits on to you. Heck, think how much extra revenue the government could raise if it sold all the information IT collected on us to interested market buyers. Think how much better marketers could help you get valuable offers if they could buy your net income information from the IRS, Lewk. Although, if you used someone like turbotax to prepare your return, I'm sure they or your ISP (or their ISP) already has that information to sell. Passes through their pipes.
I know it would be great right? Of course many employers like to keep things like income as confidential likely won't be on board. Furthermore as long as the expectations are clear I don't have a problem with employers and employees coming to agreement on this. What some people find critical to keeping under lock and key others won't care.

If you are in favor with the idea of government stepping in to govern the relationship between ISPs and consumers than you philosophically don't have an argument if the government chooses to start requiring ISPs to share the information. I personally don't think its the governments business either way. If there is a contract and one party violates it I expect the courts to be the governmental channel to arbitrate the dispute but that's it.