Edge players are beefing up their privacy policies in the wake of increased scrutiny from Washington, and a push for legislation or regulation requiring better protection of user information and transparency about its collection, use and re-use.
The move also comes as Europe boosts privacy protections and U.S. broadband players look to meet those standards and harmonize them with their U.S. policies.
Users of the Yahoo! browser met with the following message Wednesday (April 25):
The fine print included terms stating users agree to third-party arbitration of disputes, including waiving the right to a class-action lawsuit, something some ISPs have been criticized for including in their terms of service.
Related: Activist Groups Push Edge Privacy Pledge
The new Yahoo! terms of service spell out that using Yahoo! means allowing the site to "collect and analyze user data. This includes: analyzing content and information when you use our services, linking your activity on third-party sites and apps with information we have about you, and providing anonymized and aggregated reporting."
It also means allowing it to be shared with Verizon and combined with other data from other services across the users' devices to target ads and services.
Twitter also posted an announcement Wednesday about an upcoming privacy policy and terms of service update.
That comes as the European Union plans a May 25 launch of new General Data Protection Regulations, online privacy protections that will apply to Twitter, Yahoo! and other edge providers and broadband companies operating abroad.
Facebook, for example, has pledged to provide data control tools and options to its U.S. users. Like Yahoo!, it, too, is under the watchful eyes of Washington over its privacy and data protection policies.
