Verizon Didn't Bother To Write a Privacy Policy For Its 'Privacy Protecting' VPN (vice.com)

Jason Koebler writes: Verizon is rolling out a new Virtual Private Network service called Safe Wi-Fi it developed in conjunction with McAfee. According to Verizon, the $4 per month service "protects your privacy and blocks ad tracking, creating a secure Wi-Fi connection anywhere in the world." But the company didn't even write a privacy policy for the product: Verizon's terms of service directs all of its VPN users to the general McAfee privacy policy governing all of its products. That policy, in turn, states that McAfee and Verizon have the right to collect an ocean of data on the end user, including carrier data, Bluetooth device IDs, mobile device ID, mobile advertising identifiers, MAC address, IMEI data, and more. The policy explicitly says that browsing history can be used to help target ads at you.

Comments

Sneaky sneaky

[TimothyHollins]

So it protects the user from anyone other than Verizon and McAfee from collecting data?

Smart. Dick move, but smart. It's like a C-level Dracula type evil.

Re:Sneaky sneaky

[DarkOx]

That's only if it works and it probably doesn't. It takes a lot more than just VPN to provide any reasonable level of privacy or defense against ad tracking these days.

So basically its sounds like a way for VZ to charge you an extra $4/mo to do something that costs them darn near nothing but provides users with a false sense of security. I'd not be surprised if in a week or two we will learn they used a null cipher for 'performance' as well .