INDIANAPOLIS -
A new marketing program by Verizon Wireless has prompted questions about personal privacy.
Verizon has begun selling information it gets by tracking customers' web visits, apps and geographic locations.
Everything you do on your phone, they see. Every app you download, website you visit and search you make, they know.
And Verizon Wireless is sharing all of it.
"Yeah, I'm not a fan of that," said cell phone user Dylan Pittman.
"I feel like it's a privacy issue," added Allison Pearson.
Just this month, Verizon Wireless started tracking customers' mobile phones. The company is collecting details and data about you, then selling that information to marketing companies.
The new program is raising questions about personal privacy.
"I mean, it's like big brother's looking over your shoulder and who knows who they're going to be able to give that to," said cell phone user Jaime Harris.
"I definitely wouldn't want my information sold or what I'm looking up on my app," Pearson said.
Verizon says it's not violating privacy laws, because it doesn't reveal customers' identities.
The practice isn't unique.
IU McKinney School of Law Professor Nicolas Terry says there's a trend for companies to track what we do, so they can predict what we'll buy.
"These big data companies and their partners now have enough computing power and storage power that they can collect all of this and make incredible connections and they really can track us. It's a new world of sort-of private-surveillance," Terry said.
The only way to stop the surveillance is to opt out. You have to log onto your Verizon Wireless account, go to "profile", and then "manage privacy settings." You have to click "don't share" on a series of three options on that page.
If you don't opt out, you are automatically being tracked.
"I don't agree with that approach. That should be an opt in," Pittman said.
"Maybe one day, if we get the right kind of legislation, we'll flip it from being an opt out, to an opt in," Terry said.
Verizon Wireless sent emails to its customers, notifying them of the "opt out" option. Professor Terry says the legality of the practice would be tough to challenge under current laws and regulations.
Both the White House and the Federal Trade Commission are pushing for stricter online privacy laws and penalties for companies that violate them.
A marketing program from Verizon has customers concerned about privacy.
Customers can opt out of new the new program.
The program tracks app downloads, websites and geographic information.
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