The new rules would for the first time establish clear, enforceable policies about how and when internet service providers like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon can use and share customer data for behavioral tracking and targeted advertising.

"What this item does is to say that the consumer has the right to make a decision about how her or his information is used," Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler said during the agency's open meeting on Thursday. "It is the consumer's information, it is not the information of the network that the consumer hires to deliver that information."

Under the new policy, ISPs would be required to obtain "opt-in" consent from consumers before using or sharing "sensitive information" such as financial and health information, children's information, social security numbers, precise geolocation data, web browsing history, app usage data, and the content of online communications. The plan would also require ISPs to be much more transparent about what data they are collecting, how they are using it, and with whom they are sharing it.

The FCC has been under increasing pressure to address growing concern among public interest advocates and privacy watchdogs about the power of broadband giants like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon to track and record everything that consumers do online, without their knowledge, for commercial purposes. Some 91 percent of adults "agree or strongly agree that consumers have lost control of how personal information is collected and used by companies," according to a recent Pew Research poll.