Verizon announces AppFlash

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https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/03/first-horseman-privacy-apocalypse-has-already-arrived-verizon-announces-plans

>Within days of Congress repealing online privacy protections, Verizon has announced new plans to install software on customers’ devices to track what apps customers have downloaded. With this spyware, Verizon will be able to sell ads to you across the Internet based on things like which bank you use and whether you’ve downloaded a fertility app.
>Verizon’s use of “AppFlash”—an app launcher and web search utility that Verizon will be rolling out to their subscribers’ Android devices “in the coming weeks”—is just the latest display of wireless carriers’ stunning willingness to compromise the security and privacy of their customers by installing spyware on end devices.
>The AppFlash Privacy Policy published by Verizon states that the app can be used to “collect information about your device and your use of the AppFlash services. This information includes your mobile number, device identifiers, device type and operating system, and information about the AppFlash features and services you use and your interactions with them. We also access information about the list of apps you have on your device.”
>the policy also illustrates Verizon’s intent to gather location and contact information: “AppFlash also collects information about your device’s precise location from your device operating system as well as contact information you store on your device.”
>And what will Verizon use all of this information for? Why, targeted advertising on third-party websites, of course: “AppFlash information may be shared within the Verizon family of companies, including companies like AOL who may use it to help provide more relevant advertising within the AppFlash experiences and in other places, including non-Verizon sites, services and devices.”

Bad times ahead.