Verizon’s actual search results are provided by Microsoft’s Bing, but Verizon added several privacy-focused features — while retaining the ability to serve contextual ads.
“To allow for a free search engine experience, OneSearch is an ad-supported platform,” Verizon said in itsannouncement. “Ads will be contextual, based on factors like search keywords, not cookies or browsing history.”
detected a potential tracker that’s tied to the u.yimg.com domain, indicating a connection between OneSearch and Yahoo’s image service. What Verizon apparently means is that it does not use cookies to build ad-targeting profiles.
Verizon uses your IP address to determine your “general location,” helping it deliver location-specific search results. Verizon said that “We only ever infer location data up to the city level of specificity for search localization purposes.”
OneSearch is delivered by Verizon Media, the division based largely on Verizon acquisitions Yahoo and AOL. Verizon Media has failed to compete effectively against Google and Facebook in the online advertising market, and it has suffered (multiple rounds) ************ of layoffs. Verizon has pursued various media ventures outside its core telecom business, such as the (Go) ******************************************************************************
video service that was unpopular and (shut down) ************ after less than three years.
While OneSearch is available on the Web today, Verizon said that mobile apps for Android and iOS will come later this month. Verizon said that OneSearch is initially available in North America and will be available in countries outside North America “soon.”How OneSearch works
The OneSearch privacy notice offers a breakdown of what happens after you enter a search query. The process involves Verizon, Microsoft’s Bing, and other unnamed companies.
Here’s a summary of how it works:
(********************************* Your IP address, search query, and user agent are transferred over HTTPS to Verizon servers. The user agent generally includes data about the browser, operating system, and type of device and app you’re using to make the search.
Verizon derives your city-level location data from your IP address and then sends your IP address, user agent, search query, and location data to Microsoft’s Bing “so that the actual search request can be made through their search engine.”
Bing provides the search results to Verizon, and then Verizon’s automated process ” work [s] with our Search Partners to provide you with contextual advertisements and / or search results. ” Verizon describes the “search partners” vaguely as “certain companies providing search result optimization input” and says they “are not provided with your personal data.”
Verizon will store your IP address for four days “for the purpose of network traffic protection “and then permanently delete the IP address.
Bing will continue to store the IP address, search query, and user agent, also for network traffic protection. After four days, Bing “obfuscates the IP address.”
2020 Additionally, Verizon says it stores your IP address, search query, and user agent “in different servers in such a way that they are not able to be connected. “Do you trust Verizon?
Verizon is an unlikely candidate to launch a product whose entire pitch is based on privacy. In March (************************************************************************, Verizon agreedto pay a $ 1 . million fine and give users more control over “supercookies” “that were used to identify customers to deliver targeted ads. Verizon’s use of the supercookies without properly notifying users violated a net neutrality rule that required Internet providers to disclose accurate information about network management practices to consumers, the Federal Communications Commission said at the time.
Verizon was also one of several major carriers that sold its mobile customers’ location information to third-party data brokers, but Verizonpromised to stop the practicein after a security problem leaked the real-time location of US cell phone users. T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T apparentlycontinued the saleslonger than Verizon did.
All four carriers were hit with (class-action lawsuits) accusing them of violating federal law by selling their customers’ real-time location data to third parties. But a US District Court judge in Marylandgrantedthe carriers’ motions to compel arbitration, forcing customers to arbitrate the disputes outside of court.
Despite Verizon’s apparent devotion to privacy with OneSearch, the company has (opposed government regulations) that would force carriers to protect customer privacy. For example,Verizon opposed Obama-era FCC rulesthat would have required ISPs to obtain customers’ opt-in consent before using, sharing, or selling Web-browsing history, arguing that “personalized advertising benefits consumers.” That opt-in rule was (blockedby the Republican-controlled Congress and President Trump before it took effect.
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