AT&T joins Verizon, Facebook in selling customer data
by alethoRT | July 6, 2013
AT&T
has announced that it will begin selling customers’ smart phone data to
the highest bidder, putting the telecommunications giant in line with
Verizon, Facebook and other competitors that quietly use a consumer's
history for marketing purposes.
The
company claims its new privacy policy, to be updated within “the next
few weeks,” exists to “deliver more relevant advertising” to users based
on which apps they use and their location, which is provided by
GPS-tracking. Apparently recognizing the natural privacy concerns a
customer might have, AT&T assured the public that all data would be
aggregated and made anonymous to prevent individual identification.
A
letter to customers, for instance, described how someone identified as a
movie fan will be sent personalized ads for a nearby cinema.
“People
who live in a particular geographic area might appear to be very
interested in movies, thanks to collective information that shows
wireless devices from that area are often located in the vicinity of
movie theaters,” the letter states. “We might create a 'movie'
characteristic for that area, and deliver movie ads to the people who
live there.”
A
June 28 blog post from AT&T’s chief privacy officer Bob Quinn said
the new policy will focus on “Providing You Service and Improving Our
Network and Services,” but the online reaction has been overwhelmingly
negative, with many customers looking for a way to avoid the new
conditions.
“You
require that we allow you to store a persistent cookie of your choosing
in our web browsers to opt out,” one person wrote. “No mention of how
other HTTP clients, such as email clients, can opt out. If you really
did care about your customers, you would provide a way for us to opt out
all traffic to/from our connection and mobile devices in one easy
setting.”
One
problem for any customer hoping for a new service is the lack of
options, smartphone or otherwise. Facebook, Google, Twitter and Verizon
each store consumer data for purposes that have not yet been made clear.
And because of the profit potential that exists when a customer blindly
trusts a company with their data, small Internet start-ups, including
AirSage and many others, have developed a way to streamline information
into dollars.
The
nefarious aspect of AT&T’s announcement is underscored by the
recent headlines around the National Security Agency, which has spent
years has compelling wireless corporations to hand over data collected
on millions of Americans. Unfortunately for the privacy of those
concerned, AT&T’s new policy may only be a sign of things to come.
“Instead
of merely offering customers a trusted conduit for communication,
carriers are coming to see subscribers as sources of data that can be
mined for profit, a practice more common among providers of free online
services like Google and Facebook,” the Wall Street Journal wrote about the matter in May.
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