It’s bad enough that Verizon and AT&T have unleashed a new breed of “supercookie” that can track your every online move, even as you switch between your smartphone, tablet and TV. Far worse is the possibility of abuse by advertisers, governments and hackers, privacy experts warn.
“Any website you’re going to end up on is going to get this supercookie,” said Marc Maiffret, chief technology officer of cybersecurity company BeyondTrust. That opens the potential for these supercookies to be exploited by many more people than Verizon anticipated with its tracking program, he said.
Verizon, the largest mobile carrier in the US, uses information gleaned from its supercookies to understand your interests and concerns by tracking the websites you visit and links you click on. It then supplies that information to its advertisers so they can craft finely targeted advertising campaigns.
About 106 million of Verizon’s consumer customers have been tracked this way for over two years by the company’s Precision Market Insights program, according to a report by the Electronic Frontier Foundation published last week. AT&T tracks fewer customers, but only because the company says its program is still being tested.
Read the Full Article: Source – c|net
http://www.cnet.com/news/verizon-supercookies-could-be-a-boon-to-advertisers-hackers/
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