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Verizon Wireless injecting tracking UIDs into HTTP requests

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Re: Verizon Wireless injecting tracking UIDs into HTTP requests

#101

Post by charonn0 »

jerf wrote: post #51
youzer wrote: post #20

Let's say I want to send some TCP. That TCP happens to kind of look like HTTP, but it's not. It's just some protocol I made up which looks HTTPish enough to trigger this injection. Doesn't that mean that Verizon isn't actually offering TCP/IP (Internet) access, since they corrupt my protocol stream in transit? Shoudln't that mean they should be charged with fraud if they continue to advertise the fact that they provi…

"Doesn't that mean that Verizon isn't actually offering TCP/IP (Internet) access, since they corrupt my protocol stream in transit?" This is a serious answer: Go back and look at what they actually promise to deliver. Bet it doesn't have the word "TCP" in it anywhere. You can't hit them with contract violation when they aren't in violation of their contract. (Well, you can lodge any lawsuit you like. But it won't go…

If they used the proper noun "Internet" then TCP/IP is implied.

Re: Verizon Wireless injecting tracking UIDs into HTTP requests

#102

Post by kngspook »

13throwaway wrote: post #94
kator wrote: post #80

Just checked my Verizon 4G LTE MiFi and the headers are not there, I've not done anything special to my account settings. On ATT I see the X-Acr thing but not clear if it's UID like or not in nature, would need to see more of them.

I just checked my AT&T phone and I have an X-Acr header too.

How're you checking?

Re: Verizon Wireless injecting tracking UIDs into HTTP requests

#103

Post by ewzimm »

smeyer wrote: post #98
ewzimm wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can understand discriminating on quality or something like that, but we're talking about not being able to opt out of having your personal information sold. It seems like there should be some kind of a law where that has to be made absolutely clear. It doesn't even seem to be buried anywhere in the Terms of Service, which say: "Verizon Wireline consumers and certain business customers may opt-out by calling 1-866-4…

I'm attracting a lot of downvotes, and I feel like people think I'm supporting Verizon. I agree with you in that I think they're being scummy, but I guess I was just saying that when you ask "How can they discriminate like that?" the answer is that lots of scummy things aren't illegal. I agree it might be nice to see much stronger privacy laws in this area, but they don't exist yet and that's most of what I was tryin…

I do think it should be illegal, but "isn't it illegal?" was a genuine question. I don't know the specifics, but I'm surprised there isn't some legal requirement. You can't even send e-mail without allowing an opt-out, and every ad network I know of has an opt-out policy, so sending tracking information to every website you visit and selling that information with no option to opt-out just seems over the top and out of step with what everyone else offers.

Re: Verizon Wireless injecting tracking UIDs into HTTP requests

#104

Post by 13throwaway »

kngspook wrote: post #102
13throwaway wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just checked my AT&T phone and I have an X-Acr header too.

How're you checking?

Go to this page over a cellular connection. (Turn off your wifi) http://checkyourinfo.com/request Then look for a long number.

Re: Verizon Wireless injecting tracking UIDs into HTTP requests

#105

Post by lemcoe9 »

peterwwillis wrote: post #68

https://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/support/customer-agreeme... " We collect personal information about you. We gather some information through our relationship with you, such as information about the quantity, technical configuration, type, destination and amount of your use of our telecommunications services. You can find out how we use, share and protect the information we collect about you in the Verizon Privacy…

Thank you for posting this, so the lawsuit-happy folks of HN will realize they, once again, have no legal leg to stand on.

Re: Verizon Wireless injecting tracking UIDs into HTTP requests

#106

Post by paxswill »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #84
zackify wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

setup a vpn with digitalocean like I do, it's about all we can do.

Well to be clear, on WiFi it does not send the tracking data, only when using the LTE network. That said the only SSL tunnel software I saw was Junos Pulse which is sitting on a ton of bad reviews at the moment because apparently it doesn't work with iOS 8. What VPN software do you use with your iPad?

iOS has support for some common VPN protocols built-in: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1288

Re: Verizon Wireless injecting tracking UIDs into HTTP requests

#107

Post by abraham »

jo_ wrote: post #14

This makes me rather unhappy. I'm seeing this on Verizon. Can someone with an alternative mobile provider like Sprint or T-Mobile test this, too?

I'm on T-Mobile and using http://httpbin.org/headers I did not get any headers I would not expect from Chrome.

Re: Verizon Wireless injecting tracking UIDs into HTTP requests

#108

Post by M2Ys4U »

smeyer wrote: post #63
ewzimm wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a prepaid account, and I'm not allowed to change privacy settings either online or over the phone. The web tells me I am an account member and not owner, and the phone just says prepaid is not eligible to opt out. I can fix it by using a VPN, but isn't it illegal to not even allow me to opt out? Postpaid is significantly more expensive than prepaid and not available to people with bad credit. How can they disc…

I'm not clear why you think it would be illegal. There may be rules against not allowing people to opt out, I don't know. But when you ask "How can they discriminate like that?", there's nothing illegal about discriminating on the basis of credit or willingness to pay for a more expensive product.

>I'm not clear why you think it would be illegal.

Consent matters. In Europe it would most certainly be illegal.

Re: Verizon Wireless injecting tracking UIDs into HTTP requests

#109

Post by ams6110 »

el_duderino wrote: post #21
bobbyi_settv wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you use Chrome and enable Google's Data Compression Proxy, all http traffic is proxied via Google's servers and sent to them via spdy (which is encrypted), so Verizon can't tamper with the requests or see what they are: https://developer.chrome.com/multidevice/data-compression

What about DNS queries?

They're not http so would guess they don't go through the proxy.

Re: Verizon Wireless injecting tracking UIDs into HTTP requests

#110

Post by kator »

kator wrote: post #80

Just checked my Verizon 4G LTE MiFi and the headers are not there, I've not done anything special to my account settings. On ATT I see the X-Acr thing but not clear if it's UID like or not in nature, would need to see more of them.

Checked my Wife's Verizon iPad on LTE and no UID header.
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