Verizon courteously opts you in to its new tracking service, here’s how to opt out

Privacy is a serious issue that grinds the gears of many consumers and advocates around the world. Just take Facebook’s controversial privacy controls that can be absolutely mind-boggling at times, and it is widely known that whatever personal information you don’t put a block on gets recorded and used for internal analysis and is also sold to third parties (of course, your personal information is not transferred). Well the mobile market is a gold mine when it comes to people’s habits and Verizon Wireless is definitely not going to be left out in the cold in such a lucrative data mining opportunity. Knowing that your privacy is also quite important to you and that it would be a hassle to annoy you with notices that you are being tracked, Verizon updated its privacy policy and automatically opted you in to its new tracking service. How considerate of them! Even more considerate, they claim that they are doing this for your own benefit by using this information to send better and more relevant ads your way! Here’s the list of things Verizon will track:

Mobile Usage Information:

• Addresses of websites you visit when using our wireless service. These data strings (or URLs) may include search terms you have used
• Location of your device (“Location Information”)
• App and device feature usage

Consumer Information:

• Information about your use of Verizon products and services (such as data and calling features, device type, and amount of use)
• Demographic and interest categories provided to us by other companies, such as gender, age range, sports fan, frequent diner, or pet owner (“Demographics”)

Don’t want to be tracked? Don’t worry, you can always opt out using the web or the phone. You can either call 1-866-211-0874 or visit http://www.vzw.com/myprivacy and adjust your settings there. Be sure to opt out of both services on that web page as well as doing that for each number listed on your account. After doing that, feel free to continue streaming all your favorite RedTube videos without fear of some awkwardly targeted ad popping up on your screen in the middle of showing your boss or significant other a new app on your phone.

Source: ComputerWorld