Verizon Didn't Bother To Write a Privacy Policy For Its 'Privacy Protecting' VPN (vice.com) 50
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.
so whatb (Score:1)
most VPN services omit the fact that you are not doing a goddamn thing but masking your IP
Re:so whatb (Score:5, Informative)
most VPN services omit the fact that you are not doing a goddamn thing but masking your IP
No, your data is encrypted in transit until it exits the VPN. Then it's fair game unless browsing to an https-enabled website.
Sneaky sneaky (Score:5, Funny)
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: (Score:2)
but does not prevent them from selling your data.
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but does not prevent them from selling your data.
How so? When has a privacy policy ever prevented a company from pimping customer data? And when has there ever been a business being held accountable to doing so?
Seriously, user data is a valuable commodity. Even if current management is all nice and everything, the next management team may think different.
Look at Amazon. Bezos guards Amazon's customers' data like his own gold pile; which it is - for now.
But one day, Amazon won't be so dominate. Bezos will be gone and whoever is in charge may want to do
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When has a privacy policy ever prevented a company from pimping customer data?
In fact, all privacy policies I've ever read exist to inform the user they are going to harvest and sell your data. There's some generic template of a privacy policy everyone uses that essentially (attempts) to give the company the rights to do whatever the hell they want.
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Do "privacy polices" actually prevent this? Call me a skeptic but there are enough dollar signs involved to motivate the telecom industry and silicon valley to invent whatever workarounds they need to defeat their own "policy." Privacy policies should be treated with exactly the same contempt as EULAs; inscrutable legal bullshit authored by exactly the same bunch of foxes that guard the hen house.
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You raise a very important point and distinction many don't consider. Privacy policies are just that, policies. This effectively means the company doesn't intend to engage in this behavior right that second and that it is self-enforced. Nothing actually prevents them from collecting troves of information over time, changing the policy one day and then selling it off to the highest bidder. One might be able to initiate some type of civil suit, but the burden of proof to get over the preponderance of evid
Re: Sneaky sneaky (Score:1)
There's no silicon in the valley anymore - shipped it all to China. Now there's just mass surveillance. That's why we call it Surveillance Valley.
Re:Sneaky sneaky (Score:5, Informative)
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 .
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There are some public wifi hotspots that I wouldn't use without a VPN just to encrypt my traffic from casual sniffing. Then again, my Android handset does that automatically. For Free. [howtogeek.com] The question is whether Verizon blocks this functionality just to sell this crippled $4/mo. service.
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There are some public wifi hotspots that I wouldn't use without a VPN just to encrypt my traffic from casual sniffing. Then again, my Android handset does that automatically. For Free. [howtogeek.com] The question is whether Verizon blocks this functionality just to sell this crippled $4/mo. service.
With a little know-how, it's trivial to do this yourself. I set up my own OpenVPN server and loaded the OpenVPN client on my phone and laptop. I don't have to pay no stinkin' 4.00 per month fee.
"protects your privacy and blocks ad tracking" (Score:2)
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This is not protected as free speech. Not at all. If that were the case there could be no law against clandestine spying in general as long as it is not for a foreign entity. And hello corporate espionage laws! They are somewhat narrow in scope, but they still protect companies from unscrupulous information gathering methods being used against them.
Fair enough (Score:2)
At the very least it seems more efficient than writing one and then ignoring it.
Preemtive (Score:1)
The idea is to keep people from using someone another vendors VPN. Want a VPN, we got you covered.
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...and it's just as effective, too.
Sure, that VPN provider says it's in $COUNTRY, and your exit IP address might be from that location... but what about their billing servers, company headquarters, or any other records they feel like keeping on you? If they break their own privacy policy, in whose jurisdiction can you file a lawsuit?
Using a VPN for "privacy" is just giving your data to someone else instead of your local ISP. Do you really trust that provider more, enough to hand them control of your network
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Devil is in the marketing (Score:2)
Smart phones & privacy? (Score:5, Insightful)
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There exist custom ROMs that are secure. Wish it was easier to install without the chance of bricking your phone.
EU is looking into getting a single charger for everything perhaps EU can also look into making it a right to allow users to install a custom ROM which the companies must follow if they want to sell in EU.
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Time for the gallows (Score:2)
"You are now completely private, and no one will know what you visit except us, everyone we sell ads to, all of Google amd Amazon advertising, and anyone who wanta to pay for any of that including governments.
"In short, if this were a paid protection of your genetalia, everyone who wants to pay us may fondle you at any time."
Thought it was a joke (Score:2)
Verizon and privacy are polar opposites. Their attitude toward consumers is worse than Google or Facebook, but they're pretty terrible at actually doing anything with the data they collect.
Verizon customers, you are spared not by benevolence, but by incompetence on the part of those who would abuse you.
When you let lawyers run your business. (Score:2)
I have nothing against lawyers, but their job is to keep you out of future trouble, and the easy way of doing that is to make agreements as one-sided as possible. But you can't always do business that way. You should listen to your lawyers but be prepared to overrule them.
Who cares? (Score:2)
I honestly feel more comfortable when a company doesn't have a privacy policy.
Try reading any privacy policy some time. All they do is itemize corporate exemptions so you know what privacy you don't have.