Verizon Draws Fire For Monitoring App Usage, Browsing Habits 136
An anonymous reader writes "'We're able to view just everything that they do,' Bill Diggins, U.S. chief for the Verizon Wireless marketing initiative, told an industry conference earlier this year. 'And that's really where data is going today. Data is the new oil.' From the article: 'The company this month began offering reports to marketers showing what Verizon subscribers are doing on their phones and other mobile devices, including what iOS and Android apps are in use in which locations. Verizon says it may link the data to third-party databases with information about customers' gender, age, and even details such as "sports enthusiast, frequent diner or pet owner."'"
Bubble ads (Score:5, Insightful)
Now people have tags (Score:5, Insightful)
Verizon's the first, but watch Google and others to follow now that it's mainstreamed. We're all going to get put into consumer categories based on our online activities:
sports fan, shoe fetish, gear head, porn enthusiast
These will match up to categories of products which we will then see repeatedly everywhere we go until we get so paranoid we buy them just to feel normal.
It's like minority report, but as a for-profit business instead of a pre-crime intervention.
Does opt-out really opt you out? (Score:5, Insightful)
How do you know?
Verizon has its own definition of 'unlimited' why would they not do the same for 'opt-out'?
Verizon has just added a new tag to your profile! (Score:5, Insightful)
We notice that you've been modifying your behavior in response to our tagging. To better serve you, we have tagged you paranoid in our consumer tracking database. This tag reflects your interests and desires as a consumer.
Coincidentally, we are offering you discounts this week:
* 25% off "Ron Paul: The Retaliation" tshirts
* $10 off paramilitary gear if you spend $25
* Free shipping on gas masks from Amazon.com
* Buy 1984 and Brave New World together and save $5 at Abe Books
* Click here to consult with an offshore banking expert
We think you may also qualify for these related tags: prepper, gun owner, cave or basement habitation expert.
If you have any questions, please call our automated line for a recorded answer.
Evil. (Score:4, Insightful)
There's crossing the line, and then there's blowing past it in a rocket car while going for the world land speed record.
Did you every think when you were younger, if you remember before the Internet, that your phone company would listen in on your conversations, analyze them word for word, tally them up and present them to advertisers in neat little charts?
The government does that? Heck I'm not doing anything wrong.
The utility does it for profit? Mmmm.. no.
The hulking sasquatch in the corner is that you can in fact find out things about people, or even more easily, about tiny groups of interest, even if you have stripped the caller data. And what if one of your marketing customers has written some finely targeted apps, for which they buy the report? It may be quite easy to integrate the additional data with what they have already got.
Re:Assholes (Score:5, Insightful)
How quaint. You still think their cell phone users are customers. When it comes to data like this, advertising agencies are the customer. Cell phone users are a resource to be mined.
We need to take the laws requiring opt-out forms for credit card and bank accounts, and expand it to cover all services which wish to sell customer data.