Verizon quietly launched a new program that collects a ton of customer data

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Telecom supercompany Verizon recently launched a new program called the “Verizon Custom Experience,” supposedly as a way to provide better service to its customers. But, as it turns out, the program requires access to your app activity, websites you visit, and even all of your call and text activity.

That’s kind of crazy, right? What’s even crazier is how the company delivered the news of its new program. According to a new report from Input, Verizon disguised this new data collection activity in one of the inconspicuous emails that it sends to customers.

My Verizon's "Custom Experience" and "Custom Experience Plus" settings appear to let the company collect your device location, phone numbers you call, and your browsing history. Via @inputmag https://t.co/nNMLOLqQGv pic.twitter.com/M4CHchHmZi

— Emma Roth (@emroth08) December 5, 2021

The email’s purpose was to notify users of this new program and the data that it collects.

If you were one of the customers that happened to read Verizon’s latest email, you might have seen the announcement.

But, like many corporate emails, the announcement probably flew under the radar for most of the company’s millions of customers.

And to be completely clear, this is not a program you must opt into. In fact, the company has “graciously” already enabled the program and turned on this new data collection for all of its customers.

This is yet another company trying to take advantage of its customers’ data under the guise of a better user experience. T-Mobile and AT&T have confirmed that they also collect similar information from customers.

Fortunately, you can turn off this new program and the associated data collection pretty easily.

Just log into your Verizon mobile account and navigate to privacy settings. From there, you can explore the various data that Verizon collects for various services.

Thankfully, you can easily turn off the new Custom Experience and Custom Experience Plus options.

Let’s be honest, many of the people using Verizon are just looking for a solid mobile network provider. Most probably couldn’t care less about a personalized, tailored experience from Verizon.

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