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My old phone company sold my call log to a random ad broker in New Jersey
Last October I got a weird letter in the mail saying my phone company had been sharing my call and text metadata with a third party. I didn't think much of it until I started getting spam calls from companies I had only talked to once on the phone. One guy from a debt collection agency actually quoted the exact date and time I called my bank. I checked my online account and sure enough there was a buried clause about "anonymized data sharing." I switched carriers the next day and filed a complaint with the FCC for good measure. Has anyone else gotten those creepy call log letters and actually followed up on them?
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west.anna23d ago
Wait, so the debt collector was straight up reading your call log back to you? That is both terrifying and almost impressive in how brazen they were about it. I would have lost my mind if someone did that to me, probably would have started yelling about privacy and then hung up. The whole "anonymized data" thing is such a joke, right? Like, oh sure, my call log is totally anonymous until some ad broker in Jersey figures out exactly who I am from my number and my billing address. Maybe we should start calling it "almost anonymous data" or "anonymous if you squint really hard" data. I'm glad you got out of that carrier though, these companies act like our phone habits are public property until something bad happens and then they play dumb.
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Did you get a letter too or just figure it out from the spam calls? That clause is buried on purpose, everyone knows it. The FCC complaint is a good move but honestly don't expect much. They barely enforce anything unless a bunch of people complain at once. I filed one about a hospital sharing my info and got a form letter back six months later. Pretty much useless. What gets me is how they call it "anonymized" but then someone matches it to your name anyway. Complete joke.
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bens8123d ago
Man that's wild they actually quoted the date and time back to you. Did you ever figure out if the debt collector was lying or if that letter was actually connected?
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