If the recent creepy headlines this year about Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, and more corporations giving all of your information to the NSA didn’t bother you enough, you’re in for a ride. Verizon wireless, one of the biggest broadband and telecommunications companies in the world, has stated that it will begin “enhancing” its Relevant Mobile Advertising program. This program is used to collect various amounts of data from Verizon’s customers online habits. This information is then sold to marketers so they can have a better pitch as to what to sell specific customers.
In addition to knowing all the weird and unusual things you look up in the privacy of your own browser (we all do it, don’t lie), Verizon is going to monitor what you do on your wired or Wi-Fi connected computer, even if you’re not connected to a Verizon connection at that moment. Verizon stated that they will use an anonymous, unique identifier they create when registering on their websites. This identifier will let advertisers use information they’ve collected from your desktop or laptop computer to more accurately deliver marketing messages to devices on their network.
To make matters worse, Verizon is forcefully enrolling customers in their program by downloading software onto computers without the owners even knowing it. What’s really upsetting however, is that most people, especially those who are not overly familiar with the internet, have absolutely no clue about this happening. If you are a customer of Verizon, I’d highly recommend adjusting your browser’s privacy settings to restrict access to third party cookies. In addition, you may visit the following website to disable/opt out of these invasive services:
https://login.verizonwireless.com/amserver/UI/Login?realm=vzw&goto=https%3A%2F%2Fmyaccount.verizonwireless.com%3A443%2Fclp%2Flogin%3Fredirect%3D%2Fvzw%2Fsecure%2FsetPrivacy.action