Verizon Wireless sells out customers with creepy new tactic

Exactly what I have done.

 

How Verizon and Turn Defeat Browser Privacy Protections
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/01/verizon-and-turn-break-browser-privacy-protections

 

Interesting, in respect of use of Netflow way back. In my case, it was for valid network traffic analysis and planning. Color me naive, although I was aware of the possibilities for abuse for marketing purposes by the Isp, and hoovering it up by the spooks, I never thought they would be so stupid and destructive as to have done so as they have - silly me. It particularly annoys me when I read that those guys "invented" the internet - actually, no, it was realized by a whole bunch of people who were pretty dedicated and reckoned we were doing a pretty liberating thing.

 

Zombie Cookie: The Tracking Cookie That You Can’t Kill

http://www.propublica.org/article/zombie-cookie-the-tracking-cookie-that-you-cant-kill

 

PROOF the undead STALK Verizon users: Admen caught using 'perma-cookie'

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/0...verizons_zombie_cookies_for_indepth_tracking/

 

I really wonder what would happen if it was us tracking Verizon...... Oh wait that would be cyber terrorism

 

A proper response would be a few thousand Verizon customers smashing their phones against the front wall of their corporate office. "Hey Verizon, can you hear us now?"

 

Zombie Cookies Slated to be Killed.

-- Tom

 

When they get caught, they will "re-evaluate" that specific practice. Their intentions are clear. They will use any method available to track and target users and "re-evaluate" when they're caught in the act. This company along with any other they're affiliated with belong on a permanent blocklist.

 

Anybody that stoops so low as to take over (putting malware/spyware in) your computer without your knowledge is a criminal. To say they will rectify something only AFTER the fact shows what their true intentions are. Why anyone would believe Turn is beyond me.

 

EFF really ramped up the pressure which helped.

Should be noted that only Turn is killing the program and Verizon has yet to do so.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/...spend-zombie-cookie-program-when-will-verizon

Next up they need to put tracking chips on their customers and auction off their information to the highest bidder........ Oh wait they already do that.

 

No new research here but worth another look -
How to protect yourself against Verizon Wireless's privacy-invading supercookies
http://www.itworld.com/article/2875...-wirelesss-privacy-invading-supercookies.html

 

Verizon Wireless will allow users to opt out of undeletable 'supercookies'
http://www.zdnet.com/article/verizo...users-to-opt-out-of-undeletable-supercookies/

An EU user tells me Vodafone serves up the same.

 

There seems to be some progress - use this link to see if your Mobile carrier is tracking you via this unique "supercookie" http://amibeingtracked.com/

On Twitter some are skeptical that Verizon will allow users to opt-out of this tracking cookie as reported here:
http://www.propublica.org/article/v...-kill-previously-indestructible-tracking-code

 

Verizon offers silver bullet for immortal 'supercookies'.

-- Tom

 

Verizon will now let users kill previously indestructible tracking code.

-- Tom

 

But how can one do this, what are the procedures to kill this tracking cookie?

 

Very much the typical way privacy is operating this day. Companies make a big grab at user data. Users jump up and down and the company caves to provide an "opt-out" that only 1% of people ever use.

 

Where I live it is either them or Comcast... what GREAT choices! *sarcasm*

Verizon spies on your activities and adds charges to your bill that aren't yours. You call to complain, and they try to bore/aggravate you into just giving up and paying by making you wait forever, flat out hanging up on you after an hour of elevator music, etc... Then if/when you finally talk to a real person (that hopefully speaks English), they assure you the charge will be lifted... only to see it AGAIN on next months bill. Rinse... Repeat...

I also remember a fiasco where they backdoored their way into a bunch of customers routers to upgrade their firmware... without anyone's consent. It happened to me even though I had the security as decked out as it can get, no remote access, UPnP and all that jazz disabled. So clearly they had/have backdoors to them and will/did use them. Not a pleasant thought.

I finally got tired of that and switched to Comcast. The only complaint I really have of them is that they never, ever, assign you a new IP address from the moment you become a customer. The only way to get a new one is to spoof/change your MAC address in your router, or buy a new modem. And even then if you ever go back to using one of your old MAC addresses again it'll assign you that same IP again, even if it was years ago. It's never flushed. I thought that maybe you just had to wait a long time, like maybe a week or month. With most ISP's you can just turn your modem/router/computer off overnight and get a new one assigned the next morning. But you could leave your equipment off for 10 years with Comcast and still have the same IP.

I have a lot of old equipment and made a list of the IP addresses I have and change them periodically.

Easy decision all things said and done. If Comcast simply assigned you a new IP overnight they'd be solid.

 

Providing a deadline for resolution before I file an FCC and BBB complaint is how I got immediate results with VZW. It's a company I avoid now.

Why do you want to change IPs? If you think your 'hiding' by doing so, you are mistaken. What are you going to do when IPv6 finally hits?
Besides, the more stable a switched network is, the more efficient it is.

 

Verizon is one of the corporations I avoid like the plague. Aggressive and unethical business practices are the reasons. Everything in this thread confirms that. They are the dominant wireless carrier around here and I hear the horror stories but most continue to use them. There is some sort of addiction/dependency in this. I just look at the contract terms and that is enough no matter how good their coverage. Plus they use CDMA which means no SIM cards and easy phone swaps. As an ISP, I couldn't even imagine using them. I look at corporate culture and avoid corporations with a culture of bad business ethics and Verizon is way over the line. They actually make Microsoft look kind of tame in comparison in the ethics department and Google really comes out looking good in comparison. At least Google is transparent about how it abuses privacy and provides VOIP services that cost almost nothing. Most of my friends who use Verizon pay in two months what I pay in a year for telephone service. That includes a cellular and two VOIP accounts.