In the recent news we’ve seen
various government organizations lobbying for backdoors in all of our
technology. The FBI is using scare tactics for congress, trying to demonstrate all
the “bad things” phone encryption would cause and absurd claims about how we
need this or we’re going to die. Government security organizations are pushing
for legislation, and doing anything possible to assist with their losing battle
for the surveillance and monitoring of the American people. All this talk about how things are starting
to become more secure, with things like Apple and Google opting to set
encrypting mobile information as the default has given many the appearance of
hope in this battle for privacy.
Yet behind their customer’s
backs, Verizon Wireless has been found to be leaking information and privacy in
a manner that you have no control over. Verizon has been subtly altering the
web traffic of its wireless customers for the past two years, inserting an
extra string of characters into the data flowing between customers and the
websites they visit. This string holds a unique identifier that users have absolutely
no control over. This is geared towards Verizon ramping up data collection of
its wireless customers, tracking their personal information and web habit for
more tailored advertisements and data that can be sold to third parties.
Although this has been occurring
for the past 2 years, it has only become apparent in the past week. A member of
the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) noticed a Verizon “super cookie” modifying
their traffic. This Unique Identifier Header, or UIDH, broadcasts your unique
identity across the web, even if you opt-out of Verizon’s programs. Anyone can
easily track a user, regardless of cookie blocking and other privacy
protections. No relationship with Verizon is required; any site can do it
without any knowledge or consent of their user.
While Verizon offers privacy
settings, they don’t prevent sending the header. All they do is, possibly, stop
from Verizon selling your information. Their program is legitimate, and they
even have a program that rewards you for allowing Verizon to track you and use
your information. They state that if you opt-out of their relevant ad program
they won’t use the header to pitch targeted ads, yet that’s completely irrelevant
since you’re broadcasting a unique identifier to every website you visit
regardless. There is virtually no way to disable this besides using a
third-party VPN network, and other complicated methods.
We see our ISPs as trusted
connectors for users, and they shouldn’t be modifying our traffic to the
internet in any manner. What Verizon is doing is completely unethical and
immoral, and an obvious exploitation of their power as the biggest wireless
provider in the US. What frightens me is that we are moving towards a world
where as a consumer, we are no longer to expect any form of privacy as the
standard. It isn’t simply us going from point A to point B, and worrying about
being watched by the NSA or someone, or point B telling someone else that we
came from point A, but now even going through a completely different path
without our knowledge or consent to get to our destination.
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