[HN Gopher] Tell HN: If you use Verizon, opt out of "Custom Expe...
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Tell HN: If you use Verizon, opt out of "Custom Experience"
I just got this text: > VZ Msg: Introducing Verizon Custom
Experience. VZ content & offers are more relevant using web
browsing & app usage info. For info or to opt-out: m.vzw.com/CE
And all I can say is: fuck that.
Author : beervirus
Score : 170 points
Date : 2021-12-16 19:31 UTC (3 hours ago)
| tentacleuno wrote:
| Reminds me of O2. Their app actually requests access to your
| _contacts_ (!) on Android, for no apparent reason (I see no
| phonebook feature in the app). Very dodgy, and I ended up
| isolating it in the Work profile.
| LeoPanthera wrote:
| I think most/all networks have something like this.
|
| T-Mobile's can be turned off at:
| https://www.t-mobile.com/account/profile/line-selector/adver...
|
| But you have to turn each line off one-by-one, there's no master
| switch.
| sneak wrote:
| I consume mobile broadband only via a portable, battery
| operated wifi VPN router that speaks only Wireguard back out
| over the LTE.
|
| I have a Google Fi (t-mobile network) SIM in one of these:
|
| https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-e750/
|
| Fuck carrier surveillance.
| systemvoltage wrote:
| > I have a Google Fi
|
| > Fuck carrier surveillance.
|
| How about Google surveillance? Google is one of those
| companies that I find insidiously evil. They have excellent
| PR and never get hammered on HN, but they own you, your soul
| and know more about you than you do. Google is completely
| inside you. Completely outside you.
|
| Far more scarier than Verizon. Although, fuck Verizon too.
| judge2020 wrote:
| Google doesn't surveil app usage or network traffic via
| their network services (eg. Fi and Fiber).
| systemvoltage wrote:
| It's a switch away. I'd rather not share the same ISP as
| my family photos storage provider or health records
| (Verily) vendor.
|
| I am actively trying to do de-Google my life. It's
| surprisingly difficult.
| sneak wrote:
| You can't actually browse a functional web without
| loading js from Google. Trying to de-Google your life
| means giving up web browsing very nearly in full.
| Speenah wrote:
| Not true, google isn't the only CDN. And you can even
| just have your own local one
|
| https://decentraleyes.org/
| t-3 wrote:
| How are you sure of that? Is there actually a way to be
| sure of that?
| sneak wrote:
| T-Mobile does, and they run the physical network the Fi
| traffic runs over, which makes this whole "Google
| is/isn't as bad as T-Mobile on privacy" debate a red
| herring.
| modeless wrote:
| > They have excellent PR and never get hammered on HN
|
| You must be reading a different HN than I am.
| systemvoltage wrote:
| FB > Amazon > Twitter > Apple > Google > Tiktok. In that
| order, in terms of the spanking I see on HN.
| AareyBaba wrote:
| Looks interesting. However, what gives you trust in this
| 'Mudi by GL.iNet' device and app ? Genuine question since I
| am in the market for a hotspot device and reviewing my
| options.
| mkskm wrote:
| What's the advantage of this over running WireGuard directly
| on your phone?
| sneak wrote:
| iPhones/iOS leak stuff past the VPN constantly. I am also
| keeping my location changes private from Apple, and the
| phone maintains a persistent connection to APNS at all
| times, leaking the client IP, and will do so even if the
| VPN on device goes down. There are also DNS leaks exposing
| the device's client IP.
|
| I also have root on the hotspot device and can block access
| to specific IPs or hostnames, and can run tcpdump to
| monitor traffic. It's pretty nice for seeing what spyware
| various mobile apps have embedded in them.
|
| You could also run the VPN on the phone itself, and just
| use the firewall on the hotspot to prevent traffic to any
| IP other than the VPN endpoint, closing the iOS VPN leaks,
| but I connect 3-4 devices to the hotspot and want VPN on
| all of them, so doing the VPN on the hotspot is slightly
| more convenient.
| 1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote:
| One advantage is OpenWRT versus iOS/Android. User
| utltimately has no control over the later, whereas user can
| easily compile OpenWRT from source.
|
| For example, OpenWRT allows more control over DNS settings.
| There is no user access to /etc/hosts or /etc/resolv.conf
| on iOS/Android. User can easily run servers on the e750,
| e.g., DNS or proxies, and inspect the contents of traffic,
| including TLS. The e750 has fewer limitations than trying
| to run servers on Android, with something like Termux.
| Using Termux, it is difficult if not impossible to even run
| tcpdump. Moreover Termux is not available for iOS. The iOS
| workarounds to run servers are elaborate. iOS is
| intentionally locked down and Apple prevents users from
| compiling iOS from source.
|
| The e750 can accept CAT5/CAT6 Ethernet cables. Wired
| internet is an option. "Smartphones" are wireless-only.
|
| Corrections welcome.
| Humdeee wrote:
| So you opt out of letting them personalize and communicate to you
| what they're going to track for themselves anyway. Pretty naive.
| larrymcp wrote:
| I see a lot of vitriol in this thread, but I can't seem to
| understand what harm would actually be caused?
|
| Would appreciate it if someone could give me an example or two.
| As in, "A bad thing that can happen to you as a result of
| Verizon's actions is: [insert actual bad thing that can happen
| here]"
| csnover wrote:
| Previous discussion, with more background on this change:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29479114
| Tijdreiziger wrote:
| If you use T-Mobile Netherlands (or Tele2/Ben/Simpel), go to My
| [T-Mobile|Tele2|Ben|Simpel] > More > Personal Data > Privacy
| Settings and switch the appropriate options to 'No'.
| uxamanda wrote:
| Not sure how many times I have opt-ed out of Verizon's cool new
| surveillance feature, this appears to be a new one. I will say
| the typo in the copy that says they might, for example, mark me
| as a "spots lover" is pretty nice [0]. Bring on the leopard spam!
|
| [0] 'The program uses information about websites you visit and
| apps you use on your mobile device, your Verizon Fios services,
| device location and Customer Proprietary Network Informationn
| (CPNI), including phone numbers you call and those that call you,
| to help us understand your interests, like "spots lover" or
| "gamer."'
| PeterisP wrote:
| That's why "opt out" is not an ethical or practical solution.
| There needs to be a (legally mandated and enforced) requirement
| for such things to be opt-in.
| retox wrote:
| Any opt-out agreement puts the user signing the contract at a
| disadvantage; the opt-out could be 'lost' and then the upper-
| hand in the agreement prefers the service providing the
| contract, the same party which has the most to gain from the
| 'loss'. Whereas an opt-in agreement defaults to the upper-
| hand in favor of the user if the contract is lost, forcing
| the owning party to keep careful track of the signature.
|
| Of course this doesn't preclude forged signatures/agreements.
| routerl wrote:
| Agree with you completely, but companies/governments do not.
| See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_paternalism
| diamondap wrote:
| Thanks for mentioning this. Since I turned on Verizon's spam
| blocking feature, all texts from Verizon are marked as junk. (And
| I didn't even configure that, Verizon just blocked itself out of
| the box.) Anyway, I found the message in spam, but it's
| impossible to opt out right now because the site is having
| problems.
| isitdopamine wrote:
| Words can't describe how much I despise PR jargon!
|
| "more relevant offers" now universally means "we'll spy on you,
| so we can get more money from you!"
| olyjohn wrote:
| Why does this keep coming up? You opt-out, then they opt you back
| in to something "new" 3 months later. Just keep doing it until
| everybody is opted in. This is bullshit.
| masterof0 wrote:
| I get a 404. So they probably disabled the site.
| imilk wrote:
| 404 for me as well.
| somehnguy wrote:
| Just worked for me.
| more_corn wrote:
| If you use Verizon they have reverted/ignored your privacy
| settings. You should switch carriers immediately. You should also
| report them to your state's attorney general. This is illegal (at
| least it is in my state)
|
| This kind of behavior cannot be permitted. Perhaps a fine (I
| propose $50M) would help remind them of their obligations to
| their customers' privacy preferences.
| ohazi wrote:
| > You should switch carriers immediately.
|
| They _all_ do this.
| jaflo wrote:
| Google Fi seems decent. But course it is Google itself, not
| sure what shenanigans the pull.
| colordrops wrote:
| Google? Hahaha, they have orders of magnitude more data on
| you than carriers and are absolutely aggregating google Fi
| data into your profile.
| adultSwim wrote:
| Is this only for Verizon Wireless or does it apply to their fiber
| service as well?
| somehnguy wrote:
| It's not exactly the same, but FIOS does use data for
| advertising preferences. Turn it off on the manage my internet
| page under 'manage online advertising preferences'.
| blintz wrote:
| This is so slimy and infuriating, and it increasingly seems like
| they will continue to 'reset' everyone's opt-out until enough
| people get tired/miss the update.
|
| Is there a tech solution? How can we minimize the amount of data
| that they can even collect? For example, I wonder if just
| changing DNS (and ideally doing DNS-over-HTTPS) would eliminate
| most of it. As far as call metadata, I'd say the answer is
| probably just using some less slimy provider (Signal etc).
| petarb wrote:
| Anyone know if AT&T has a program like this? I'd be curious to
| know so I can opt out as well
| paul7986 wrote:
| Is that even real ... if you don't know already it's best to
| avoid/ignore and even block dumb stuff(texts) like that... most
| of it from scammers who want you to click a link to their site
| and do whatever bad thing their goal is.
| petee wrote:
| I got an email stating the same, and appears legit, mailed and
| signed by customer.verizon.com
| nrclark wrote:
| Vzw.com is an actual domain owned by Verizon, yes. On a
| desktop, it redirects to the Verizon login portal.
| paul7986 wrote:
| That's cool but my brain is trained to ignore all links from
| texts as I get tons from AT&T that clearly not legit.
|
| The cost of spammers as they have forever changed how we use
| the telephone in terms of bother answering unknown calls.
| They are doing or have done the same with text.
|
| Also why should I as a consumer have to do a domain search to
| verify legit or not. I personally just ignore all and tell
| everyone in my family and friends to do the same.
| beervirus wrote:
| That's cool but I hope you like automatically being opted
| in to have your data slurped up since you won't click on
| links or investigate whether they're real.
| paul7986 wrote:
| If your online(email, social media, websites, etc) then
| your data is almost everywhere. Rather they take my data
| secretly then break into things that matter the most
| online and off.
| dorianmariefr wrote:
| VPN + DNS over HTTPS might solve part of this, then using VoIP
| for calls/texts
| brutal_chaos_ wrote:
| I'm on a Verizon phone currently and that link gives me a 404.
| Perhaps the service hasn't rolled out to everyone yet?
| fashiontechguru wrote:
| Thank you!
| pinewurst wrote:
| There's actually two to opt out of - "Custom Experience" and the
| even more invasive "Custom Experience Plus"
| beervirus wrote:
| I mean of _course_ there are.
| throwhauser wrote:
| Don't stop there. I see no fewer than five (5) sections in my
| Verizon privacy settings that were set to share information I
| never would have agreed to if I knew they existed.
|
| - Custom Proprietary Network Information
|
| - Business & Marketing Insights
|
| - Identity Verification Settings
|
| - Custom Experience
|
| - Custom Experience Plus
| asadlionpk wrote:
| Maybe a brain fart but can they even monitor more than just
| domain names?
| eddyg wrote:
| _From their web page:_
|
| You will be part of the Custom Experience program unless you
| opt out. You must opt in to the Custom Experience Plus program
| to be a part of it unless you are already participating in
| Verizon Selects. Verizon Selects participants will
| automatically be included.
|
| Custom Experience uses information about the websites you visit
| and the apps you use on your mobile device to help us determine
| your interests, such as "sports lover" or "outdoor enthusiast."
| We make efforts to eliminate the use of websites that may be
| sensitive in nature.
|
| Custom Experience Plus also uses:
|
| * Device location information we obtain from the Verizon
| network and from Verizon apps you have permitted to collect
| location for these purposes;
|
| * Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI), including
| information about the phone numbers you call or that call you
| and the times you receive these calls. It also includes
| information about the quantity, type, destination, location,
| and amount of use of your Verizon telecommunications and
| interconnected voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services and
| related billing information.
|
| _and this gem:_
|
| Q. If I turn off the location settings on my mobile device,
| will my location information still be used for Custom
| Experience Plus?
|
| A. We use location information from our network. We will
| continue to use this type of location information regardless of
| your device location services setting.
| jjtheblunt wrote:
| > and the apps you use on your mobile device
|
| how are they getting that info?
| rovr138 wrote:
| domains they might use
| christkv wrote:
| What do they mean with this
|
| We make efforts to eliminate the use of websites that may be
| sensitive in nature.
| rovr138 wrote:
| All we can do is assume.
|
| I'd say banking, investments, porn, etc are good candidates
| to remove
| bink wrote:
| No way, that's good blackmail data. Imagine the power you
| could exert over people like Supreme Court Justices if
| you can buy their porn browsing history.
| LeoPanthera wrote:
| That's pretty much it. Obviously any unencrypted sites can be
| sniffed, but those aren't that common anymore.
| criddell wrote:
| Is Verizon still using supercookies?
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(page generated 2021-12-16 23:00 UTC)