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User ID: 22521718 United States 05/22/2013 09:43 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Phone companies now selling customer information raises Privacy Concerns Big phone companies have begun to sell the vast troves of data they gather about their subscribers' locations, travels and Web-browsing habits. The information provides a powerful tool for marketers but raises new privacy concerns. Even as Americans browsing the Internet grow more accustomed to having every move tracked, combining that information with a detailed accounting of their movements in the real world has long been considered particularly sensitive. The new offerings are also evidence of a shift in the relationship between carriers and their subscribers. Instead of merely offering customers a trusted conduit for communication, carriers are coming to see subscribers as sources of data that can be mined for profit, a practice more common among providers of free online services like Google and Facebook. When a Verizon Wireless customer navigates to a website on her smartphone today, information about that website, her location and her demographic background may end up as a data point in a product called Precision Market Insights. The product, which Verizon launched in October 2012 after trial runs, offers businesses like malls, stadiums and billboard owners statistics about the activities and backgrounds of cellphone users in particular locations. [ link to www.foxnews.com] "Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples' liberty's teeth."
"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
"Religion and morality are the essential pillars of civil society."
-George Washington, Father of our country & 1st President |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 25345388 United States 05/22/2013 09:48 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Phone companies now selling customer information raises Privacy Concerns |