Verizon Wireless Opt-Out Plan For Customer Records

An anonymous reader writes to let us know that Verizon Wireless is planning to share its customers' calling records (called CPNI) with "our affiliates, agents and parent companies (including Vodafone) and their subsidiaries." The article explains that CPNI "includes the numbers of incoming and outgoing calls and time spent on each call, among other data." Some subscribers, it's not known if it's all of them, received a letter in the mail giving them 30 days to opt out of this sharing by calling 1-800-333-9956. Skydeck, a mobile and wireless services company, seems to have been the first to call attention to the Verizon initiative on their blog; they also posted a scan of the letter (sideways PDF) from Verizon.

I got one of those

[Scareduck]

I got one of those letters several weeks ago, and immediately called the 800-333-9956 number listed to opt out.

They'd be crucified if they did this in Europe...

[cliveholloway]

I can't believe the shit companies can get away with over here. Call me paranoid, but I think my next cellphone will be another pay-as-you-go under someone else's name.

Actually. Maybe that would be a good business idea. Buy a PAYG phone and swap SIMS with someone at random. Maybe make it so you mail them on every few months. For the truly paranoid...

Opt-out should be illegal

[kybred]

Opt-out for this kind of thing should be illegal. I should have to opt-in to allow this, but of course few people would so it might not be worth it to the companies. Which is why they use opt-out.

Re:Time to switch

[moosesocks]

I've always found it at least mildly disturbing that Verizon makes AT&T look good. I mean... this is Death-star-logo-sells-your-conversations-to-the-NSA AT&T we're talking about.

I was actually on with AT&T Wireless before they were Cingular, and they actually were *very* nice to us. Even once they were Cingular, their customer service was great even though they did sort of alienate their former AT&T customers. A few of the price plans that the old AT&T had right before being absorbed into Cingular were far better then anything Cingular or Verizon have ever offered. If you wanted to modify your plan, however, you had to switch to a Cingular plan which would inevitably cost you more money. There were a few tricks for getting new phones out of the deal as well, although it got a lot harder over time. Still.... you have to give them major props for honoring the plan -- I held onto it for a few years after the merger. You also didn't have to pay for incoming text messages on any plan, something that no other US carrier does to my knowledge (most European countries have legislation which forces the caller to pay for both sides of the conversation, making incoming calls and SMS free)

However, as time went on, Verizon improved its coverage in my area, while there were no improvements in GSM service. Frustrated by not being able to get a signal at home, I switched to Verizon. A year and a half down the road, and I'm fed up to the point where I'm switching back the day my contract runs out. I've been overbilled, had my service disconnected, had my plan changed without my consent, and Verizon gave my old number to somebody else after they "lost" it while porting. And of course, in order to resolve any of this, you either have to call them and wait on hold for hours on end, or visit one of their stores -- which are more and more resembling the DMV these days (I've seen actual fights break out on more than one occasion).

Re:They'd be crucified if they did this in Europe.

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Swapping SIMs == swapping phone numbers.

Not if you use something like GrandCentral.com.

Of course the smart-ass response is, do you trust Google more than Verizon?

Re:Time to switch

[Spokehedz]

I have had no issue with Verizon for the 5 years I have had them. I had a 2-year contract with them through work, which expired in 2002. I have changed my plan, changed my minutes, and even bought new phones without having a any contracts put onto my account.

I don't know why people don't like them, but I must be the exception. That, or I care about not dropping calls when I am downtown.

GSM is a great idea, but in the USA CDMA has better coverage.

How I protested this action

[jeeves99]

I called the customer service number (*611) and talked to a rep for 20 minutes asking every conceivable question about this policy change. I put her on speakerphone and continued reading slashdot while we chatted. If a lot of people called them like this, their call center costs will rise. I don't see really any other way of letting them know my discontent.

+1 mod for screwing the big guy. :)

Am I missing something here?

[a1337Hax0r]

Let's see. I suffer from a terrible disease of one type or another (My daughter thinks Mesothelioma is cool. I think she watches too much TV). Anyhow, I call several specialists to schedule appointments for treatment and then I call a lawyer to put the smack down on those nasty Asbestos peeps. An infomercial low-life who sells Mesothelioma snake oil buys my phone records, scans it for all the doctor records (umm... duh... they are online) connects the dots and then starts calling my number which is also on the DNC registery. Last time I checked, there were Federal laws against sharing medical information without express written permission.

How about calls I made to Verizon customers?

[forsetti]

I am not a Verizon customer, but have made calls to many Verizon customers, and have received calls from many Verizon customers. Using only Verizon data, one would be able to reconstruct quite a bit of my calling patterns. Can I call Verizon, and have them withhold calls involving my phone number(s) ?

Where is this new FCC rule for Dec 2007 ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Here is Consumer Advisory from FCC: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/phoneaboutyou.html [fcc.gov]
Verizon is following rule #1 Opt-Out. Though I find the way they do it unethical.

Several posters have remarked that there is a new rule for Dec 07:

It seems that Verizon is trying to sidestep the 12/2/07 deadline for new rules regarding CPNI. Earlier this year, the FCC decided to change the CPNI rules for carriers (both wireless and wireline) to try and beef-up the security around the call details that these carriers handle: http://www.ipbusinessmag.com/departments.php?department_id=6&article_id=23 [ipbusinessmag.com] [ipbusinessmag.com]

I read this from the link above to ipbusinessmag.com and looks like if it is different, it still reeks of loopholes.

Joint Venture and Independent Contractor Use of CPNI: Under previous FCC CPNI rules, carriers were permitted to share information with joint venture partners and independent contractors if they obtained "opt-out" approval from their customers. The FCC changed this requirement to mandate that customers obtain "opt-in" approval from their customers prior to sharing CPNI with their joint venture partners and independent contractors for marketing purposes only. This opt-in requirement does not apply to the permissible disclosures of CPNI, such as sharing CPNI for billing purposes or to render services to the customer

The part about the 'permitted to share information with joint venture partners and independent contractors if they obtained "opt-out" approval from their customers.' looks like a typo, shouldn't that be opt-in. Then the rest of it just looks like the same thing as they are doing. Can someone find something better from the FCC, I can't. Otherwise it looks like my first link, that you can do EXACTLY what Verizon is doing Now!

Re:current versus past customers

[Anonymous Coward]

My main concern here, is when I opt out my phone number(s) but call another verizon number that has not opted out, is my number shared still?

My information is private and I want to keep it that way.

Copyright

[CTilluma]

Would it be possible to copyright my personal information such that providing that information without my express permission would constitute copyright infringement?