With shrinking cable television viewership, and the talk of making internet a utility, of course many of these companies want to find new ways to make money. The customers don't really get a choice - not enough people can get up and move to actually hurt many of these companies in any significant fashion. Look at cell phone plans. The real question is if there is collusion in the industry... To be certain: consumers don't get a real choice when the players are so few and so big.

It's an easy plan I've layed out in the case I get wealthy, depending on level of wealth:

• 1) Pay off all my debt
• 2) Moderately Upgrade items I use (No Supercars, lavish houses or jets, that just encourages isolation)
• 3) Put enough money in retirement accounts to live a comfortable lifestyle into retirement (so I can also blow most of the rest of the money)
• 4) Fill college funds for my kids
• 5) set aside money for my family, only help with most pressing items

• - This also lets me know who in my life is a gold digger, and who will continue to treat me the same. I don't want to be a bank, but "everyone gets one"

• 6) Setup a scholarship for kids to go to school (most average student, best manners in a video game, whatever)
• 7) Setup funds for charities like homeless shelters, work programs and other items to get people on their feet
• 8) Continue working in fields I love (life needs challenges)
• 9) give away random gifts to strangers

• - my favorite atm is giving $5 starbucks gift cards to parents when their kids are being obnoxious in public, sometimes you just need a break!
  - paying electric bills for all customers who are behind
  - buying groceries for the people who are clearly just trying to get by
  - paying for all the kids in the school to go to sea world, local zoo, etc

in the case of billions, I like the Musk idea - improve the world, help build what you've always wanted. Things get hard and frustrating, but I think remembering to be a normal human and not flaunt your money or lifestyle goes a long way. I also think those hard parts of life is what gives us the most return - accomplishing something hard is far more satisfying than doing something easy.

This really isn't anything new. A few years ago I worked on an advertising project that involved tracking your preferences which pulled information from your profile to tailor the ads that you received. It was smart advertising, because it led to higher click-through rates. We didn't pass your information on to other firms unless it was noted in our privacy contract - and even that was a completely separate process. For ads, it was a lot wiser to fill your sidebar and popups with age/sex/interest specific advertising than to show a 14 year old ads for geritol.