One of the most important policies to know is your internet service provider's - the company that ferries all your traffic to and from the internet, from search queries to BitTorrent uploads and flirty IMs.

Wired News, with help from some readers, attempted to get real answers from the largest United States-based ISPs about what information they gather on their customers' use of the internet, and how long they retain records like IP addresses, e-mail and real-time browsing activity. Most importantly, we asked what they require from law-enforcement agencies before coughing up the data, and whether they sell your data to marketers.

At Wired.

[ Read more ]