Tell Verizon, Stop Tracking Us on the Web

For the past two years, whenever Verizon Wireless customers visit a website, the company has been adding something called a Unique Identifier Header (UIDH) that advertisers can use to identify them on the web. A UIDH is a string of about 50 letters, numbers and characters that functions as a sort of serial number or code that ad networks can use to follow customers' Internet habits.

Tell Verizon, stop tracking wireless customers on the web!

A UIDH makes it possible for Verizon to track each and every website that you visit. The code can be called a "perma-cookie": Any web server you visit can read the UIDH and, from the data gathered, build a profile of the Internet sites you access.

Verizon says it is not using the UIDH to create customer profiles. The company also claims that it is neither using nor selling customers' subscriber data.

But the UIDH does make it possible for Verizon to gather quite a bit of information about all 123 million of the company's subscribers.

What's more, customers cannot turn off the UIDH. They can prevent Verizon and its advertising partners from using the data to create targeted ads, by opting out of the company's Relevant Mobile Advertising program and changing their privacy settings. But whether or not your give your consent, Verizon is sending out your unique identifier to the websites you visit.

Tell Verizon to stop exploiting wireless customers' right to privacy and stop tracking us on the Internet.