Verizon settles with FCC in customer-tracking probe
The mobile phone carrier is on the hook for a hefty sum after a federal investigation found it was using targeted advertising and tracking consumers on the Internet.
For Verizon Wireless, the term “supercookie” has nothing to do with Girl Scouts. Instead, it means paying $1.35 million in fines.
This week, the Federal Communications Commission announced the findings of its investigation into Verizon’s use of supercookies to track users’ online actions.
The carrier inserted “unique identifier headers [UIDH] or “supercookies” into its customers’ mobile Internet traffic without their knowledge or consent,” the FCC reported.
The investigation found that Verizon began using UIDH in 2012, but didn’t alert users for nearly two years. Verizon’s move violated the FCC’s net neutrality rules, which Verizon had previously tried to get thrown out. RELATED: Content management and distribution for marketers and communicators.
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