How your privacy has been hijacked

                In recent months, privacy has been pushed into the mainstream media more than it ever has been in the past.  Technology companies have been implementing new policies and working to ensure that all user data is protected from prying eyes.  However, not all companies have been the most proactive in this respect.  It was recently discovered that Verizon Wireless has been intercepting and manipulating user data for the purpose of serving targeted advertisements to its mobile customers.  Not only does this present a huge privacy breach to any users who are victim of this, but it also represents the complete lack of care the company has towards customer privacy.

                Privacy advocates noticed last week that Verizon has been inserting a string of 50 characters used to uniquely identify the traffic of its customers.  The company claims that this ID is exclusively used for targeted advertising and it not sold to other companies or organizations.  However, no information has been given to prove this, and revelations about government spying and partnerships between American telecommunications companies and government security firms have lowered credibility for data providers across the board.  Similarly, Verizon hasn’t made any steps to protecting that identifier from other companies, meaning that websites customers visit can see the traffic just as well, which means that, even if it’s not sold by Verizon, it can easily be quantified and sold by any website you visit.

                Many people have made the argument that Verizon Wireless has no reason to use the unique IDs at all.  Firstly, as an ISP, the company makes millions of dollars in subscription costs and various fees.  Not only do they sell their product, but they also sell customer data, because the profit they already make isn’t enough.  Secondly, such insertions defeat any attempts the user makes to maintain private connections.  The identifiers can act as “permanent cookies,” meaning that any “do not track” settings they use can be completely nullified.  Thirdly, intercepting and modifying http requests is a huge breach of trust between the service provider and customer.  It is inherently expected that any requests made are sent as is with no modifications or extra information attached.  This is a founding principle of the internet, and should be expected of all providers.

                The biggest problem with this breach of privacy is that there is virtually no way to disable it.  Verizon offers an “opt-out,” for the service but it only lasts for a short period of time and then reactivates itself.  Without paying for a third-party VPN network, there is virtually no way to avoid the token without simply dropping Verizon as a provider.  This behavior is unethical and immoral, and the company should not be exploiting its customers like this.  Verizon is the biggest wireless internet provider in the country, and the fact that it can get away with such blatant privacy violations sets a dangerous precedent for other ISPs.  The company has a responsibility to its customers to keep their data secure, and the fact that they are acting in complete opposition to that means that we, as consumers, no longer have any expectation of privacy.

http://www.wired.com/2014/10/verizons-perma-cookie/