Verizon To Pay $1.35 Million Fine To Settle US Privacy Probe (reuters.com)

chasm22 writes: Verizon Communications Inc agreed to pay a $1.35 million fine after the Federal Communications Commission said on Monday it found the company's wireless unit violated the privacy of its users. Verizon Wireless agreed to get consumer consent before sending data about "supercookies" from its more than 100 million users, under a settlement. The largest U.S. mobile company inserted unique tracking codes in its users traffic for advertising purposes. Supercookies are unique, non-removable identifiers inserted into web traffic to identify customers in order to deliver targeted ads from Verizon and others. The FCC said Verizon Wireless failed to disclose the practice from late 2012 until 2014, violating a 2010 FCC regulation on internet transparency. The FCC also said the supercookies overrode consumers privacy practices they had set on web browsers, which led some advocates to call it a "zombie cookie." Under the agreement, consumers must opt in to allow their information to be shared outside Verizon Wireless, and have the right to "opt out" of sharing information with Verizon.

Comments

Opt-in, really?

[MobyDisk]

Under the agreement, consumers must opt in to allow their information to be shared outside Verizon Wireless

And since there is no logical reason to ever opt-in to this, I wonder what shady process the opt-in will take. Probably a link that pops up on your phone at some point, saying "By using your mobile data plan you agree to the Verizon web browsing policy..." and everyone will click "yes." The one person who clicks the "read agreement" link, which will be me, will get bored by page 5 out of 453 pages. You bet it doesn't say "By clicking yes, you agree to allow Verizon to provide information to advertisers at no benefit to you." with a default of "No."