Charter Suspends Ad Targeting Over Customers’ Privacy Concerns

It looks like privacy concerns have put Charter Communications ad targeting plans on hold.

As we reported last month, ISPs are sitting on a wealth of personalized data, but lawmakers have expressed concerns over the methods used to tap into that data–especially "deep packet inspection."

The pressure has obviously become too much for Charter which, conveniently, spins the suspension of its ad plans into a mere pause, while it listens to customers.

"As we do with all new service launches or initiatives, we conducted focus groups well in advance, which told us that most broadband consumers would look upon this service favorably," Charter said on Wednesday.

"However, some of our customers have presented questions about this service as well as suggested improvements," it said. "We will continue to take a thoughtful, deliberate approach with the goal to ultimately structure an advertising service that enhances the Internet experience for our customers and addresses questions and concern they’ve raised."

Translated: We thought we could make a lot of money off of this, but it turns out our customers would rather we didn’t spy on them.