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Verizon announces plans to install a download-tracking app on its Android phones

eff.org

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Re: Verizon announces plans to install a download-tracking app on its Android phones

#7

Post by ziszis »

Verizon's plan when buying AOL [0] wasn't to become a media company, but to become a leader in ad tech. The way to lead in ad tech is to control data. Technology alone is not a moat.

Verizon has made several attempts at unlocking the carrier data including the short-lived header injection [1]. Phone data is the holy grail of data (location, voice conversations, web browsing, apps, address, and potentially purchase history in the future) etc. Lets see if they have a winner this time

[0] http://fortune.com/2015/06/24/verizon-gains-aol/

[1] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/11/verizon-x-uidh

Re: Verizon announces plans to install a download-tracking app on its Android phones

#8

Post by tehlike »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #6

Aren't their protections in place for advertising and children? Parents buy phones for their children, so will parents be able to turn this off for them? Verizon has NO business tracking children.

I assume there will be ways to turn off child tracking.

Re: Verizon announces plans to install a download-tracking app on its Android phones

#9

Post by alphonsegaston »

tbrock wrote: post #4

Googlers of hacker news: stop allowing this.

Google lobbied against the FTC rule change that blocked this under Obama, so I think it's far past time we believe them to be acting benevolently on our behalf. It's sad how things have evolved and how many smart, talented people have been swept up in this. But we have to organize and act outside the context of corporate appeals if we want to resist this kind of stuff.
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