Verizon Wireless Customers Can Now Opt Out of ‘Supercookies’

Brian X. Chen, reporting for the NYT:

“As the mobile advertising ecosystem evolves, and our advertising business grows, delivering solutions with best-in-class privacy protections remains our focus,” Ms. Lewis said. “As a reminder, we never share information with third parties that identifies our customers as part of our advertising programs.”

Translation from corporate jargon to plain English: We were forced to do this because of public scrutiny.

To disable the header tracking, users can opt out of the program called Relevant Mobile Advertising. When that happens, Verizon stops inserting the header, according to the company. Users can unsubscribe from the program on Verizon’s website or by calling 1-866-211-0874.

If you’re a Verizon customer, opt out. Three of the four lines on my family account already were, but the fourth one wasn’t.

Wednesday, 1 April 2015