Mood :  frustrated
Music :  The Mighty Mighty BossToneS - Pay Attention

Well if you pay attention to your cell phone bill with Verizon for the month ending August 2009 you may have noticed a flier that looks like any terms of service agreement change only this one is for a service called “Customer Proprietary Network Information Notice”

in the terms of this agreement if you do not opt out of this new service you will automatically be included in this program:

Verizon Wireless describes it further this way:

Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) is information created by virtue of your relationship with Verizon Wireless. This information includes: services purchased (including specific calls you make and receive), related local and toll billing information, the type, destination, technical configuration, location and amount of use of purchased services.

it already seems suspicious enough but the fact that they are asking me for permission to use collected data from my account with 3rd parties is deeply disturbing from a privacy perspective.

so I did what I encourage everyone to do I opted out. This is just another way for Verizon to benefit from information farmed from its stupid and often gullible and uncaring consumer supporters (err: customers)

What kills me with these sort of things is inactivity is grounds for acceptance of terms of service changes.
Verizon describes these unfriendly consumer practices in this way as if CPNI is something we should all champion as tech innovation for the end consumer:

Q4. How do I give my consent to share CPNI?
Unless you provide us with notice that you wish to opt out within 45 days of receiving this letter, we will assume that you give us the right to share your CPNI with the authorized companies described above.

this is backwards and a complete infringement on a consumers right to privacy, and it’s interesting to note that I was never contacted or aware of the integration of CPNI when I opened my account. And yet the FCC thinks this practice of collecting this information is alright. Really good info about CPNI here

here is the opt out number for verizon:

1800-333-9956 have your last 4 digits of your social, your acct number and zip code to complete the opt out if you have more than one number on the account wait at the end and it will give you the option to opt out all at once.

if you are having problems completing the opt out you can call customer service and tell them to remove you manually 1800-922-0204

or you can visit http://www.verizonwireless.com, register for My Verizon, and opt out by updating your profile.

I also found this article about CPNI from ars technica

THIS IS WHY ITS IMPORTANT TO NOT SWITCH TO AN ELECTRONIC FORM OF PAYMENT. YOU WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED OTHERWISE!