A coalition of 54 US groups asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to impose strict privacy regulations on providers of all broadband internet services, including mobile, Reuters reported.

The coalition, which consists of groups like the Center for Digital Democracy and the Consumer Watchdog Electronic Frontier Foundation, believes providers collect large amounts of consumer data and use it for targeted advertising which can “increase the potential for discriminatory practices derived from data use”.

In a letter to Tom Wheeler, FCC’s chairman, the coalition said that “as the role of the internet in the daily lives of consumers increases, this means an increased potential for surveillance”.

An FCC spokesperson reportedly declined to comment, but if the rules being proposed were imposed, firms like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon Communications would be affected.

In November, the FCC rejected a petition from Consumer Watchdog requiring internet firms like Google, Facebook and Netflix to honour “do not track” requests from consumers.

Wheeler has said in the past that the FCC will look into privacy practices and that it is important for consumers to know what data is being collected about them and how it will be used.

Last year, two Republican FCC commissioners wrote in a Wall Street Journal article that the “FCC should refrain from imposing its Byzantine privacy regime on broadband and internet providers”.