I can't tell if this is real or not.
I just got off the phone with a Verizon customer support person that tried to talk me out of changing my wireless service to T-Mobile. I was calling to pay my bill, and I didn't and haven't mentioned leaving Verizon.
That is what is weird. The service rep said T-Mobile specifically. I have never been a T-Mobile customer. I have never threatened abandoning Verizon for T-Mobile. I have never mentioned T-Mobile to any Verizon anything. I have been a Verizon customer for eight years.
But just last night I did search google.com for any T-Mobile deal that would get me anyway from Verizon for cheap.
Knowing that Verizon tracks internet users in general by injecting unique IDs into web packets that traverse their networks ... and knowing that they know the I.P. address that I have been paying my bills from for the past couple of years ... I can't help but feel that my search for new service on google.com was inside knowledge to the Verizon customer service person.
I am a crank and a paranoid. But that interaction set some other deeper darker alarm off in my head.
All of it really creeps me out.
Had to poke around a little and see what Verizon is doing. Answer: a lot of creepy stuff in the name of money. They are tracking you and selling your data. Where you go, who you call, the websites you visit, and while they give lip service to privacy they don't sound trustworthy. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/10/17/verizon-very-excited-that-it-can-track-everything-phone-users-do-and-sell-that-to-whoever-is-interested/2/ I'd still be surprised if a Verizon customer service person would be given access to this information because that would tip their hand (as they possibly have to you), and with so many customer service reps someone would spill the beans. Went back to my Hubski feed and this was the next one:
https://hubski.com/pub?id=187142 Ditch this company, fast!