Verizon, AOL Ad Partnership Doesn’t Change Privacy Protections for Customers, Verizon Says

Verizon’s existing wireless advertising programs -- Relevant Mobile Advertising and Verizon Selects -- will be combined with the AOL Advertising Network starting in November, wrote Verizon Chief Privacy Officer Karen Zacharia in a blog post Wednesday. “The combination will help make the ads our customers see more relevant to them, and therefore more useful, across the different devices and services they see.” Verizon is changing how its programs operate, including who receives the Verizon advertising identifier or Unique Identifier Header (UIDH), which is essentially a string of random characters that's transmitted with unencrypted Internet requests over the Verizon Wireless network, Zacharia said. UIDH doesn’t contain or transmit personally identifiable information; doesn’t broadcast Web browsing information to advertisers or others; and when the AOL and Verizon programs are combined, will be transmitted only to entities that are on a preapproved white list, she said. Verizon’s advertising approach is “in line with best-in-class industry standards for privacy protection,” Zacharia said. “Our customers will continue to have choices about whether or not to participate in these programs.”