Verizon Spying on Customers for Third Party Ads? Preferences and Locations Made Public
Verizon Wireless has announced that it will now begin monitoring customer activity online for "business and marketing purposes."
"Verizon collects and uses information about our customers and website visitors for a variety of purposes. Information is obtained when you interact with us, when you use our products and services, and when you visit our websites," the company states under its privacy policy.
Aside from "business purposes," the company states that the information is used to " better direct specific offers or promotions."
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But some customers have stated that they have no interest in better ads.
"How about no ads at all you stupid service providers," one customer wrote on the Yahoo blog. "Is it not enough to be ripped off and given bad customer service. Stop being so greedy."
Verizon also outright states that all such information could be share with a third party.
"Information may also be aggregated or anonymized for business and marketing uses by us or by third parties," the policy outlines. "We may also obtain consumer information such as demographic and interest data from outside companies who provide such data. We use this data and combine it with other information we have to help us predict customer preferences and to direct marketing offers."
In addition, the company also states that it will provide user location information.
"We also may provide third-party advertisers with geographic or demographic information that allows them to tailor their ads."
While some controls can be turned off, users will not be able to completely eliminate all information collection. The options available to increase privacy can be found here.
