Senior Democratic members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on Jan. 20 asked Verizon Communications’ CEO Lowell McAdam whether the wireless division would continue to use “supercookie” software, which is easy for third parties to exploit.
Supercookies are an identification number used to track and tag Internet users for advertisement purposes. Unlike regular cookies, supercookies cannot be turned off, deleted or disabled.
The use of such technology has long been a concern of privacy advocates as it can easily be repurposed by marketing firms, intelligence agencies, law enforcement and other third parties without the user’s knowledge or consent.
From the joint statement: “As a majority of Americans are turning to their smart phones to access the Internet, it is even more critical that we remain vigilant in protecting the privacy of consumers when they use their mobile devices.”
The letter comes in the wake of revelations that Turn, an online marketing firm, was using Verizon Wireless’ supercookies to track the browsing habits of the telecom company’s customers even when they had specifically enabled their privacy settings.
The Senators also sought clarification as to when Verizon learned that Turn was using its software, and if it is aware of any other third parties also doing the same.
The joint statement pointed out that AT&T, Verizon’s largest competitor, had discontinued the use of supercookies in November over similar privacy concerns.
Turn has also suspended its use of Verizon Wireless supercookies.
Verizion spokeswoman Debbie Lewis said in a Feb. 2 press release that the company lets customers “opt out of our advertising programs. We have begun working to expand the opt-out to include the identifier referred to as the UIDH (unique identifier header) and expect that to be available soon.”
“As a reminder,” she said, “Verizon never shares customer information with third parties as a part of our advertising programs.”
