Verizon Mobile Privacy Concern

[JourneyOfLife]

Here is the article


Secretive, unblockable Verizon perma-cookies kick up privacy concerns | PCWorld (http://www.pcworld.com/article/2839816/secretive-unblockable-verizon-perma-cookies-kick-up-privacy-concerns.html)

[JourneyOfLife]

Some more detailed information about how it works.


The Privacy Lowdown On Verizon and AT&T's Smartphone 'Permacookies' - Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/10/29/the-privacy-lowdown-on-verizon-and-atts-permacookies/)

The whole thing rubs me the wrong way. Smartphone data plans are outrageously expensive. What ever happened to privacy?

Apparently the tracking id cannot be turned off. People can opt-out of ads, but that id is always on.

Will they be capturing historic information and build profiles of people over years? They claim not. Then why can't customers turn off that tacking ID?

They will keep probing and pushing to see how far they can go, a little at a time, over the next several years.

The problem is, if data is collected and sold later, there is no easy way to undo it, once the buyer has the data.

One thing is for sure, if a company has something that they consider a valuable asset... sooner or later, they will want to make money off of it!

Are there any regulations or laws that limits who they can sell the information to or how it might be used?

I know one thing for sure. I will do my best to avoid those companies. If I had a phone with either of those companies, I would be shopping for a replacement service.

[JourneyOfLife]

There are really only 4 major phone companies in the US. AT&T, Verizon, Tmobile, and Sprint.

There is another type of mobile reseller called an MVNO.

Here is a list of mobile virtual network operators.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_mobile_virtual_network_opera tors


You might think you are using XYZ cellular... but XZY is just reselling minutes from one of the major carriers. XYZ has no phone system. They may not even have a billing system, or a call center or any of it! IOW, they may just be a marketing company with a brand. Some MVNOs handle some of the backoffice stuff.


Here is more info on MVNO. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_virtual_network_operator

[JourneyOfLife]

More information for those that are interested.

This article is from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Electronic Frontier Foundation:Verizon Injecting Perma-Cookies to Track Mobile Customers, Bypassing Privacy Controls (https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/11/verizon-x-uidh)

[JourneyOfLife]

A new issue related to Verizon and Privacy... It appears to be related to their practice of injecting a tracking cookie into customers internet requests.


Gizmodo:Why Are ISPs Removing Their Customers' Email Encryption? (http://gizmodo.com/why-are-isps-removing-their-customers-email-encryption-1657784170)