Verizon Will No Longer Sell Real-Time Location Data To Brokers

One of Verizon’s business practices has drawn a lot of criticism recently. Many didn’t like the fact that Verizon was selling data on its users to third-party brokers which could be used to figure out the location of its mobile users. The country’s largest mobile carrier has now pledged to stop selling real-time location data on its mobile users to data brokers.

The Associated Press reports that this data could be used to pinpoint the location of wireless devices on Verizon’s network without the users’ knowledge or consent. The carrier also added that 75 companies have been receiving its customer data from two brokers based in California to which Verizon supplies the data directly, LocationSmart and Zumigo.

Verizon may be the first major carrier in the country to stop selling data to brokers that sell it on to other companies, it didn’t confirm if it will completely end its business of selling location data. Karen Zacharia, Verizon’s chief privacy officer, says that the carrier is going to “work with these aggregators to ensure a smooth transition for these beneficial services to alternative arrangements so as to minimize the harm to customers and end users.”

Verizon had actually made this revelation that it was selling data to brokers in a letter to Democrat Senator Ron Wyden who was looking into the phone location-tracking market. Zacharia has confirmed that Verizon has notified LocationSmart and Zumigo that it will “terminate their ability to access and use our customers’ location data as soon as possible.”

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: General
Tags: Verizon