The image is by Alex Castro.
The email was sent to customers to let them know that they are opting in to the Custom Experience data collection scheme. If you trashed the email without reading it, the program of the company collects data about your apps and web browsing activity to give you more personalized experiences. You can turn it off whenever you please, but you have to make the program opt-in.
When people were Enrolling in the rewards program, they were referred to as the "custom experience", which is a sort of successor to the "custom experience" of the "selects" program. The Custom Experience with a few limits on tracking is rolling out to most customers who don't actively opt out.
A reader says they got a text from a member of the staff at The Verge, which said they had been told about the program by email. You can opt out of the Custom Experience within the next 30 days, according to the email.
The Custom Experience is coming to the customers.
If you don't do anything, your data will likely be used to personalize communications with you, give you more relevant product and service recommendations, and develop plans, services and offers that are more appealing to you. The FAQ for the program says that consumers and small business customers with phone lines are included. Corporate and government lines, as well as lines for children and people in Maine are not included in the program.
We note in our explainer that there are two levels to what is happening here, one of which is automatic, and the other of which is opt-in. It seems like people have accidentally signed up for Custom Experience Plus while using other rewards programs. It collects location data from its network, and it also collects information about your phone calls and who you talk to, so it won't help if you turn off location tracking on your phone.
You can read the full instructions on how to turn off Custom Experience, but the short version is that it can be done in the "Manage privacy settings" preference pane of the MyVerizon app. The data from Custom Experience is only used by the company and not sold to advertisers. One reader reported that the alert that was sent to users was about how the personal data you give when you sign up for a service is used by the company.
