Verizon Didn’t Bother to Write a Privacy Policy for its ‘Privacy Protecting’ VPN

Verizon Didn’t Bother to Write a Privacy Policy for its ‘Privacy Protecting’ VPN

6 years ago
Anonymous $oIHRkISgaL

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/a3q4gz/verizon-didnt-bother-to-write-a-privacy-policy-for-safe-wi-fi-privacy-protecting-vpn

Verizon is rolling out a new Virtual Private Network service called Safe Wi-Fi it developed in conjunction with McAfee. According to Verizon, the $4 per month service “protects your privacy and blocks ad tracking, creating a secure Wi-Fi connection anywhere in the world.” Besides Verizon’s long history of allowing third parties to monetize its customers’ web-browsing habits, there’s another reason you probably shouldn’t trust this product to “protect your privacy:” Verizon didn’t bother to write a privacy policy for it before releasing it to the public.

Verizon's Terms of Service just redirects to McAfee's website. Image: Verizon The company’s terms of service directs all of its VPN users to the general McAfee privacy policy governing all of McAfee’s products. That policy, in turn, states that McAfee and Verizon have the right to collect an ocean of data on the end user, including carrier data, Bluetooth device IDs, mobile device ID, mobile advertising identifiers, MAC address, IMEI data, and more. The policy explicitly says that browsing history can be used to help target ads at you:

Verizon Didn’t Bother to Write a Privacy Policy for its ‘Privacy Protecting’ VPN

Aug 6, 2018, 7:24pm UTC
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/a3q4gz/verizon-didnt-bother-to-write-a-privacy-policy-for-safe-wi-fi-privacy-protecting-vpn > Verizon is rolling out a new Virtual Private Network service called Safe Wi-Fi it developed in conjunction with McAfee. According to Verizon, the $4 per month service “protects your privacy and blocks ad tracking, creating a secure Wi-Fi connection anywhere in the world.” Besides Verizon’s long history of allowing third parties to monetize its customers’ web-browsing habits, there’s another reason you probably shouldn’t trust this product to “protect your privacy:” Verizon didn’t bother to write a privacy policy for it before releasing it to the public. > Verizon's Terms of Service just redirects to McAfee's website. Image: Verizon The company’s terms of service directs all of its VPN users to the general McAfee privacy policy governing all of McAfee’s products. That policy, in turn, states that McAfee and Verizon have the right to collect an ocean of data on the end user, including carrier data, Bluetooth device IDs, mobile device ID, mobile advertising identifiers, MAC address, IMEI data, and more. The policy explicitly says that browsing history can be used to help target ads at you: