Tech Tuesday – Verizon to Sell Your Online Information to Advertisers

If you're a Verizon customer, you may have noticed or maybe not, the change in Verizon's privacy policy for using their service. They have been sending out emails, but it is possible that you thought it was just another ad. Well, it's not. Verizon will be selling your Web browsing history, cell phone location and app usage, for third-party marketing purposes. The bright side is, you can opt-out!

Verizon says they won't be sharing any identifiable information with third parties, but these kinds of things still irk me. This is the kind of stuff Facebook does, but at least Verizon made an effort to tell people. Still, I wouldn't be pleased that I have to opt out of more of this stuff. I realized, these ads help keep free things free. But aren't we already paying them for the service? If you do stay in, you'll see more targeted and personalized ads when you're surfing on your phone, or if you become or already are a FiOS or DSL customer of Verizon's.

I personally am split on this. If it keeps costs for Verizon's services down and I have to see a few ads that are targeted at me, OK, cool. But if they are making a lot of money, for the sake of money, isn't this just kind of greedy at the expense of their customers? You know, typical Occupy Wall Street kind of stuff?

If you didn't see the email, and want to opt out, you can do that through on online form, or you can call Verizon at 1-866-211-0874. And if you would like to read about all the changes, you can see them on Verizon's Web site.

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