How to Opt Out of the Verizon Selects Program

Joseph Henry, Tech Times 09 December 2021, 04:12 am

Verizon recently renamed its Selects Program to Verizon Custom Experience Plus and Custom Experience programs which are tasked to collect users' information regarding their web browsing experience, location, and mobile app usage data.

Those who previously opted out of the program were automatically enrolled in the rebranded scheme of the company. According to the carrier, the program has already ditched third-party advertising.

Regarding the Custom Experience, the firm said that it does not sell any collected details from either of them. However, the data would be shared with the "service providers" related to them.

Verizon Selects Program

(Photo : Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - JULY 21: A sign is posted on the exterior of a Verizon store on July 21, 2021 in San Francisco, California. Verizon Communications reported better-than-expected second quarter earnings with net income of $5.95 billion, compared with $4.84 billion one year ago.

According to a report by Engadget on Wednesday, Dec. 8, Verizon said on a FAQ page that the gathered information would be solely used for the defined purposes of the company.

"These service providers are required to use the information only for the purposes Verizon defines and not for their own or others' marketing or advertising purposes," the New York-based firm wrote.

The network operator added that the browsing information exceeding no longer than six (6) months will be kept. On the other hand, the user's location and contact number will be stored for a year.

If you are planning to remove yourself from the Verizon Selects program, there's a way on how to opt out again.

How to Opt-Out of the Verizon Custom Experience Program

When users learned about these changes, many of them were disappointed about the company's privacy implementation that's why a lot of them want to opt-out of the program.

If you're one of those people who want to remove themselves from Custom Experience and Custom Experience Pus, here's what you should do, as Ars Technica wrote.

Go to the privacy preferences page of your Verizon account.
Scroll down until you see "Manage Settings" for Custom Experience programs by accessing this link.
For mobile app users, tap the "Manage privacy settings."

After doing these steps, you can check if you have already opted out in either one of the two Custom Experience programs. In addition, you can also reset your location and browsing data. Still, you have the option to block the enrollment for Custom Experience for particular phone lines, as well.

Over the past years, many users became skeptical of Verizon's practices. In the same report in 2020, it was found out that the company was using users' locations without their permission.

With that, the firm was subjected to a fine of $1.35 million because of its "supercookie" identifiers which collect mobile browsing details without the users' consent.

Verizon Phishing Scam

Over the past two months, Tech Times reported that some customers complained about the Verizon phishing scam which makes use of an unsolicited text message. The data breach, at that time, affected 48 million users.

The victims said that people should avoid "562-666-1159" which notifies them about their bills. Upon receiving the message, a gift will be sent to a recipient. However, this deceptive reward is what hackers used as bait to retrieve confidential information from the victims.

Previously, Tech Times also wrote in another report that Verizon and other telecommunication companies could not stop robocalls from annoying their customers. If you ever receive an unwanted call from an unknown source, it's best to stop entertaining it.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Joseph Henry