Your privacy is important to us

As we start out the New Year, I always look back and look ahead. Where are we with our customers, and where do we need to go?

I start by asking our team if we did enough to protect the privacy of our customers, the millions who engage with us every day. Second, I challenge our team to look ahead to see what’s on the horizon. What else can we do to protect and enhance their privacy? Are we taking steps to keep information secure? And with a new privacy law in California and potentially elsewhere, are we in compliance? Are we doing right by our customers now, is that enough, and what else do we need to do?

Data has given consumers an incredible opportunity to improve their lives. As a society, we use data to help us navigate from place to place, for social media, to track and manage so many aspects of our lives including our health and finances. And, we keep track of how our kids are engaging online. I’m proud of all the good things that we’ve done for our customers in these areas. Verizon has been a leader in this space. 

As data use and technologies evolve, we are always thinking about a two-part goal: first, to retain customer trust, and second, to consider what else we can do to keep information secure and to protect privacy.

That’s why, for the past decade, our company has been strongly advocating for comprehensive national privacy legislation—a new federal law that applies across the country and across industries so that consumers have the peace of mind that their privacy is being protected by all companies in the same way. Over the last year, several members in Congress have been working in a bipartisan fashion to reach consensus on a national privacy law. Verizon supports these bipartisan discussions and urges members of Congress to continue working together to make a national privacy law a reality in 2020. We owe it to our customers, and it should be guaranteed for all Americans.

Changes to California Privacy Laws

Starting today, January 1, for California consumers, the situation is a little more unique.

As of today, the California Consumer Privacy Act is law. Also known as the CCPA, this state law was enacted to protect the privacy rights and personal information of California residents.

The CCPA provides California residents with several important rights, including the right to know and access, the right to delete, and the right to opt out of the sale of personal information.

Here are some details about the law and how it impacts California residents.

Right to know and access. The CCPA gives California residents the right to know what personal information a company has about them, what it’s used for, and who it’s shared with.

Right to delete. The CCPA also gives California residents the right to delete their personal information, provided that it’s not needed for certain business or legal purposes, like providing service, billing, or doing the things a customer asked for or expects.

Right to opt out of sale. Finally, the CCPA gives California residents the right to say, “Do not sell my personal information.”

We’ve spent the past several months working to enable our consumers to exercise these rights.

New Verizon Privacy Dashboard

To help navigate and offer our California consumers the rights set out in this new law, we have launched our Verizon Privacy Dashboard. This dashboard allows consumers to access and manage their personal information. The Verizon Privacy Dashboard is located at https://www.verizon.com/privacy/your-data.

On the dashboard, consumers will be able to:

• preview the types of personal information we’ve collected;

• adjust their privacy settings;

• adjust their marketing communications preferences;

• request a download of their personal information;

• request deletion of certain information not needed to provide Verizon services; and

• learn more about how Verizon uses and shares their information and set controls over how their data is shared.

For additional information, please see our CCPA Privacy Notice. If you are not able to access the Verizon Privacy Dashboard, you may also call our dedicated Privacy Toll-Free Number at 1-800-333-3972. These options are not limited to California residents. Those in other states can also use the Verizon Privacy Dashboard and Toll-Free Number.

We hope that consumers take advantage of the new opportunities we now offer to help them manage their privacy. We know it’s important to them. It’s also important to us.