Verizon Wireless to Cough Up $1.35 Million Over 'Supercookies' The largest U.S. mobile firm inserted unique tracking codes in its users traffic for advertising purposes.
By Reuters
This story originally appeared on Reuters
Verizon Communications Inc. will pay a $1.35 million fine and agreed to three-year consent decree after the Federal Communications Commission said the company's wireless unit violated the privacy of its users.
Verizon Wireless has agreed to get consumer consent before sending data about "supercookies" from its more than 100 million users, under a settlement approved Monday. The largest U.S. mobile firm inserted unique tracking codes in its users traffic for advertising purposes.
The FCC said Verizon Wireless failed to disclose the practice from late 2012 until 2014 and said it violated a 2010 FCC regulation on Internet transparency.
The FCC also said the supercookies overrode consumers privacy practices they had set on web browsers, which led some advocates to call it a "zombie cookie."
(Reporting by David Shepardson)
