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Verizon Subscribers Can Now Opt Out of "Supercookies"

Posted by samzenpus on from the don't-track-me-bro dept.

itwbennett writes Verizon said in January that it would allow subscribers to opt out of having a unique identifier placed on their phones that critics have labelled a "supercookie" because it's almost impossible to remove, but it didn't say when. On Tuesday, Verizon said the identifier won't be inserted for customers who opt out of its mobile advertising program: "Verizon Wireless has updated its systems so that we will stop inserting the UIDH after a customer opts out of the relevant mobile advertising program or activates a line that is ineligible for the advertising program, such as as a government or business line," Verizon said in a change to its policies.

3 of 82 comments (clear)

  1. testing method? by dltaylor · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I can set up a WiFi port to capture the data over that medium (really nice switches that allow port mirroring), but how can I test that 3/4G data requests not only no longer have the "supercookie", but have no new flavor of tracking tag? I'm concerned that they might have one that gets stripped except for special destinations, such as paying businesses, so I couldn't test it against my own web server.

  2. Confirmed! by crow · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.amibeingtracked.com...

    I just checked this. My phone is on a corporate account, so it shouldn't be eligible for the advertising program they're talking about in the first place. The cookie is gone.

    I still hope they get sued out of business over this. Of course, they'll probably settle for something in the low millions that won't impact their profits.

  3. already opted out. by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 5, Insightful

    i opted out by leaving their entire network. fuck them and their unquenchable greed.

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