The program is novel in that offers Verizon users some compensation for the collection of their data, which has become big business for telecom and tech companies. Some privacy advocates have pushed data-collecting companies to reward customers for their personal information in the interest of transparency.
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The other major U.S. carriers -- AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile-- all have clauses in their privacy policies reserving the right to collect personal information including location data for advertising purposes.
AT&T said it doesn't currently use location data for advertising purposes. T-Mobile said only that "does not sell personally identifiable customer data to third parties without consent"; Sprint did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Online, meanwhile, scores of companies like Google and Facebook make a business out of tracking your browsing habits.
"In the increasingly internet and mobile data driven society we live in today, there are times we all share personal information with others in exchange for something that benefits us," Verizon says on its website.