Verizon and AT&T Allegedly Selling your Phone Number and Location

[FrgMstr]

In hopes that this will be our last "Have Your Privacy Ripped From You Monday" for a couple of months now, Android Authority is reporting that both Verizon and AT&T are selling your phone number along with current location data. This has come up in the past with Verizon, and it was agreed that this would be specifically and opt-in "feature." Those new eyes in Minority Report are starting to sound fairly inexpensive.


Philip Neustrom, the co-founder of Shotwell Labs, recently found two demo websites that would return account details if visited from a mobile connection. By simply entering a zip code and clicking a button, the site would spit out the full name, current location, and more information.

It would appear that these sites are grabbing the information from the same process that Verizon got busted for. That program, the Unique Identifier Header, added information to HTTP requests from Verizon customers and then, for a fee, would let websites see the info. AT&T has a similar plan called the “Mobile Identity API”.

 

[wuzupfoo]

i guess everyone is "opted in" automatically what a joke... but it will be received with the proverbial shrug/meh.

 

[Chunder]

Damn big government intruding into our.... Oh wait, its big corporations... yet again. Damn the government being bought out while distracted citizens argue over stupid shit. This is precisely one of the many things our government should be protecting us from.

 

[sfsuphysics]

So the first time someone is killed/kidnapped/etc because they have global location these companies face.... nothing.

Seriously, it's getting to the point where I think it's time to burn the whole fucking thing down and start over from scratch.

 

[tunatime]

Lame they mention two sites but not thier name

 

[bizzmeister]

lol crazy world we live in, no ones safe.

 

[Stryker7314]

wheres my tree fiddy class action check?

 

[Grebuloner]

Lame they mention two sites but not thier name

I did some digging and found a site with links. Sadly [H] is a little too late and the demo sites have been taken down but the companies are PayFone and DanaLinc.

Here are links to the original demo pages in case they undie. Also of note: it only worked when you were on a mobile connection, not wifi.

DanaLinc demo
PayFone demo

 

[umeng2002]

wheres my tree fiddy class action check?

That $3.50
Not $350

 

[travisty]

Corporation: (noun) An ingenious device for obtaining individual wealth without individual responsibility.

-Ambrose Bierce

 

[DeathFromBelow]

Can we arrest an entire company for stalking? That might get the message across.

 

[BitMaster]

We should ALL not buy a new SmartPhone for the next 2-3 years..and thus teach them a lesson they will never forget.

Turn it off whenever possible, use alternative means and measures, be a little Ghandi and refuse to fuel the dragon by just NOT doing something.

 

[Evil_SPanKY]

So how/where do you verify the opt-out part for Verizon customers? I tried looking through several of the linked articles (here and at destinations), but didn't see a link to that part.

 

[raz-0]

i guess everyone is "opted in" automatically what a joke... but it will be received with the proverbial shrug/meh.

It was just a misunderstanding of the statement. It is opt in. It's just that you don't opt yourself in, someone else does.

Not even joking, if you didn't read the article, that's what it says. Use an app that uses this stuff, and you are opted in, even if nobody told you that was the case.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

This makes me absolutely livid.

Location data needs to be beyond sacred, unable to be used or shared in any way without explicit opt-in by every individual user.