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View Full Version : Verizon Customer? This Affects You



vangogh
03-07-2009, 10:07 PM
Hey All. I found this article at ReadWriteWeb (http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/verizon_customers_-_just_say_no.php) that likely affects you if you have an account with Verizon. One observant Verizon customer noticed in the pamphlet that came with his bill that you have


45 days to opt out of 'agreeing' to let Verizon share his personal information.

Yes. If you don't take the action of opting out, then you are agreeing to let Verizon share your personal info including


"services purchased (including specific calls you make and receive), billing info, technical info and location info. They promise to only share this with 'affiliates, agents and parent companies.' It will definitely not be shared with 'unrelated third parties' ... unless, perhaps that third party pays Verizon to become an affiliate, whatever the heck 'affiliate' means,"

If you want to opt out you can follow the instructions here (http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/2009/03/07/tales-of-data-pirates-opting-out-of-verizons-open-ended-sharing/)

Thought those of you with Verizon accounts might want to know

Evan
03-07-2009, 10:09 PM
Good information. I have Sprint. Or what's left of Sprint anyways.

vangogh
03-08-2009, 12:18 AM
I'm on Sprint too, but I figured some people here are on Verizon. This seems to be one of those things designed to not be seen, which isn't right. Opt out policies should against the law.

nighthawk
03-08-2009, 07:03 PM
I'm on Sprint too, but I figured some people here are on Verizon. This seems to be one of those things designed to not be seen, which isn't right. Opt out policies should against the law.

Thankfully, they pretty much are against the law in the UK. A few years ago BT conducted a trial of a technology called Phorm (which is possibly what Verison are about to start using), without asking permission from its users. It created a massive stink which is still ongoing - I think the UK ruled it a legal trial, but now the EU is calling in the decision.

As with pretty much anything in law, you can never tell if something is legal or not until someone successfully (or not) sues.

vangogh
03-09-2009, 12:19 PM
Good point about having to take it to court.

When you think about all the things a company can do under the opt-out idea it really does need to be against the law. It's like saying you agree to everything we say unless you explicitly tells us you don't. Assuming of course you even notice that you have to opt-out. The incentive for big companies becomes to hide the information as best as they can so we never know about what we're "agreeing" to until it's too late.

rezzy
03-09-2009, 12:25 PM
I totally agree. Big business has some many rights that us "normal' people dont.

One thing I heard recently, Banks have an unlimited amount of time to correct one of their mistakes, for instance depositing someone else's money in your account. But we have 60 days to correct a problem with our account, not getting a deposit for example.

vangogh
03-09-2009, 12:42 PM
Sometimes it seems like we have no rights at all when it comes to big companies.

dynocat
03-13-2009, 10:28 AM
Thanks, vangogh.

I am a verizon user. They are well known for not telling the customer much until it's too late to do anything about it. :(

vangogh
03-13-2009, 11:30 AM
Glad I could help. Just happened across the post and figured some people here would like to know.

kml9870
03-14-2009, 12:44 AM
I'm on Sprint too, but my aunt is retired from Verizon and her husband is still working for them. They hadn't noticed it either :(

vangogh
03-14-2009, 11:23 AM
That's kind of funny. So Verizon isn't even letting employees know. They probably aren't doing anything that other companies are doing, but it seems to be getting out of control with the way most companies are treating their customers. Opt-out is a bad practice. It's essentially changing a signed contract. Companies should be required to have you agree to changes instead of sneaking them by you.

I'm sure the argument for the companies is that it would be a nightmare to have to get everyone to agree to every change, but opt-out is a bad policy.