ie8 fix

Between the Lines

Larry Dignan, Andrew Nusca and Rachel King
Home / News & Blogs / Between the Lines

Verizon tweaks privacy policy for ad targeting based on physical address

By | October 13, 2011, 4:45am PDT

Summary: Verizon started a program where advertisers can target Verizon Online customers by physical address.

Verizon is changing its privacy policy so local advertisers can better target customers based on physical address.

In an email to customers, Verizon noted that it started a program where advertisers can target Verizon Online customers by physical address. The address will be masked to advertisers, but the idea is that pitches will be more relevant.

The program is opt-out so if the targeting is troubling you’ll have to change your privacy settings.

Here’s the letter, which includes a link to an opt-out option.

And here’s the opt-out screen.

Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily e-mail newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

More from “Between the Lines”

Topics

Verizon Communications Inc., Advertising, Advertiser, Advertising & Promotion, Marketing, Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic.

Disclosure

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan has nothing to disclose. He doesn’t hold investments in the technology companies he covers.

Biography

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic. He was most recently Executive Editor of News and Blogs at ZDNet. Prior to that he was executive news editor at eWeek and news editor at Baseline. He also served as the East Coast news editor and finance editor at CNET News.com. Larry has covered the technology and financial services industry since 1995, publishing articles in WallStreetWeek.com, Inter@ctive Week, The New York Times, and Financial Planning magazine. He's a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and the University of Delaware.

For daily updates, follow Larry on Twitter.

Related Discussions on TechRepublic

Did you know you can take part in these discussions with your ZDNet membership?
Ask a Question Start a Discussion
6
Comments
Add Your Opinion

Join the conversation!

Just In

RE: Verizon tweaks privacy policy for ad targeting based on physical address
mkinley77 24th Oct
Read it closely. There is NO OPTING OUT. They specifically say that regardless of whether you "opt out" they will still send you ads! If you "opt out," all that means is that the ads won't be tailored to your so-called "needs." They make money on you either way, and they DO NOT compensate you for having to read those ads. They are peering over your shoulder watching every google search and web page you go to and then selling that information to businesses, but NOT lowering your fees. Do not applaud Verizon for honesty. It is corporate banditry from start to finish. Their first sentence of "We respect your privacy" is Orwell's 1984 in a big way. I'm switching companies but can only hope that the others will not take Verizon's course of utter disrespect for its customers.
View in thread
0 Votes
+ -
I already opeted out
tgschmidt 13th Oct
Of this new policy. Took all of 2 minutes to do it on the Verizon web site. I poay Verizon enough every month already for service, they do not need to make any more money off me!
0 Votes
+ -
They don't make it easy
Jack.evans@... 13th Oct
Try opting out if you don't have your account information readily available. You can't!
If they wanted to make it easy they could simply allow people to respond to the email with an opt-out request.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Verizon tweaks privacy policy for ad targeting based on physical address
HackerJ 13th Oct
And be aware of Verizon's "Screw the Outgoing Customer" policy, where you get to pay for the entire month of service if you cancel during your billing cycle. If you want to port to another carrier, make sure you do it with 11-days left in your cycle, so they can't sit on the request for the max of 10-days to hit you with an extra month's fee.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Verizon tweaks privacy policy for ad targeting based on physical address
Ken Cameron 14th Oct
I found the email refreshing and applaud Verizon. They proactively informed their customers and included instructions on how to Opt Out. When LinkedIn changed their privacy practices, they didn't tell anyone, and a user discovered it, researched it and put out a discussion item to let people know.

Hey, Verizon, THANKS!
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Verizon tweaks privacy policy for ad targeting based on physical address
mkinley77 24th Oct
Read it closely. There is NO OPTING OUT. They specifically say that regardless of whether you "opt out" they will still send you ads! If you "opt out," all that means is that the ads won't be tailored to your so-called "needs." They make money on you either way, and they DO NOT compensate you for having to read those ads. They are peering over your shoulder watching every google search and web page you go to and then selling that information to businesses, but NOT lowering your fees. Do not applaud Verizon for honesty. It is corporate banditry from start to finish. Their first sentence of "We respect your privacy" is Orwell's 1984 in a big way. I'm switching companies but can only hope that the others will not take Verizon's course of utter disrespect for its customers.

Join the conversation!

Formatting +
BB Codes - Note: HTML is not supported in forums
  • [b] Bold [/b]
  • [i] Italic [/i]
  • [u] Underline [/u]
  • [s] Strikethrough [/s]
  • [q] "Quote" [/q]
  • [ol][*] 1. Ordered List [/ol]
  • [ul][*] · Unordered List [/ul]
  • [pre] Preformat [/pre]
  • [quote] "Blockquote" [/quote]
ie8 fix

The best of ZDNet, delivered

ZDNet Newsletters

Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox

Facebook Activity

Blog Roll

Blog Archive

White Papers, Webcasts, & Resources
ie8 fix