Protecting our customers' privacy has long been an important priority at Verizon. We are committed to maintaining strong and meaningful privacy protections for customers. The privacy of your information is a significant responsibility and we value the trust you place in us.

Our privacy policy is designed to inform you about the information we collect, how we use it, and your options with regard to that collection and use.

This policy applies to Verizon customers in the United States and to visitors to Verizon Web sites. It does not apply to Verizon Business customers outside the United States. For these customers, Verizon Business policies are set forth at http://www.verizonbusiness.com/terms/. Also, contracts between Verizon and its customers (both U.S. and international) may contain additional privacy-related terms and conditions. With the exception of Verizon Business international customers, this policy applies across the Verizon family of companies and the products and services they provide including wired (landline) and wireless communications services, and Internet and television services.

In addition to the privacy policies described here, please note that there are some additional privacy practices that apply only for specific services. They can be viewed at the following links:

• Verizon FiOS TV
• Verizon Wireless

Back to Summary

We collect and use information about you in the following ways:

Ordering Information:
When you place an order for Verizon products or services, we collect information from you that we use to deliver, provide, confirm, change, bill, monitor, and repair those products or services and to resolve issues with your order or with our products and services. The information we collect may include your name and address and the telephone numbers and email addresses where you may be reached, as well as Social Security Number or payment information necessary to establish credit or set up billing. We also use this information to establish your customer account, maintain a record of the products and services you buy from us, and maintain billing records for your account. We may use your address, e- mail address, and phone number information to contact you about products and services that we offer.

Customer Service Inquiries:
When you speak with Verizon customer service or perform an online transaction on one of our Web sites, your records will be accessed to better help you with your inquiry. When you call us or use the "Live Chat" feature on our Web sites, your interaction may be monitored or recorded. This monitoring or recording helps us train employees and provide high-quality customer service.

Transactional Information:
We collect information about your use of the products and services we offer. Information such as call records, service usage, traffic data, service options you choose, and other such information you provide may be used for billing purposes, to deliver and maintain products and services, or to help you with service-related issues or questions. This information also may be used for other purposes such as providing you with information about product or service enhancements, determining your eligibility for new products and services, and marketing to you based on your use of the products and services you already have, subject to any restrictions required by law. This transactional information also may be used to help us improve our services; research and develop new products; provide and offer promotions and service offerings; and protect our networks, services and users from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful uses.

Information Provided to Us by Third Parties:
When you apply for service with us, we may obtain credit information about you from an outside credit reporting agencies to help us with customer authentication and credit-related decisions. We also may purchase demographic data from third-party providers that we use to better direct specific offers to you, and may obtain email lists from third parties to provide those on the lists with information about Verizon's latest offerings and promotions. We also collect email addresses of third parties through "refer-a-friend" options on some of our Web sites. We use those email addresses to forward the marketing information for which the friend was referred.

Information Collected When Using Verizon Services to Access the Internet:
If you subscribe to Verizon Internet access services such as Verizon Online High Speed Internet, Verizon FiOS Internet or Verizon Wireless Mobile Broadband and Mobile Web services, we may automatically measure and monitor network performance and the performance of your Internet connection to improve your, or our, overall service levels. If you contact us for service support, we also may access information about your computer or other device settings in order to provide customized technical support or to install specific applications or services that you use or that are necessary to the applications or services you use.

Information Collected When on Verizon Web Sites:
When you browse Verizon Web sites, information is collected about your computer and your visit. In addition, data about your browsing and buying activity is collected as you interact with our Web sites. This information does not identify you personally. We may collect and use your IP address and the Web site address of your point of entry to our sites, as well as other information about your connection, including your computer's browser and platform type and your Internet connection speed. We use this information to monitor statistics such as how many people visit our Web sites; which pages people visit on our sites and how much time is spent on each page; which Web domains our visitors come from and which browsers are used to visit our sites.

See more information about the tools we or third parties acting on our behalf use to collect this information, such as "cookies" and "web beacons"

Verizon Marketing Using Information Collected on Verizon Sites:
Verizon and its vendors also use information collected on Verizon Web sites (discussed above) for other Verizon-related purposes, such as delivering more relevant Verizon marketing messages on our Web sites, on third-party Web sites, or on other Verizon services or devices. We use this information in order to, among other things, ensure that you see the correct products and pricing applicable to the geographic area in which you live, manage the frequency with which you see an advertisement, tailor advertisements to better match your interests, and to understand the effectiveness of our advertising. We also may use this information to assess the effectiveness of our sites and to help you should you request help with navigation problems on these sites.

Certain authorized Verizon vendors may help us with the delivery of Verizon marketing messages by placing and reading cookies. We require that these vendors participate in the opt-out process established by the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI). To learn more or to limit the automatic collection of information by these parties, you may visit the NAI advertising industry site and opt out of this collection. Please note that this opt-out is cookie-based. If you buy a new computer, change Web browsers or delete cookies, you will need to perform the opt-out task again. Please also note that the NAI opt-out does not work on many wireless devices, wireless portals, or wireless Web sites today. If you do not want information to be collected for Verizon marketing purposes from services such as the Verizon Wireless Mobile Web, you should not use those particular services.

You also can limit the automatic collection of certain information by our or other Web sites. Most Internet browsers residing on computers enable you to erase cookies from your computer hard drive, block all cookies, or receive a warning before a cookie is stored.

See more information about deleting or disabling cookies

Please note that disabling cookies may prevent you from using specific features on our sites, such as ordering products or services and maintaining an online account.

Third-Party Advertising:
You may see third-party advertisements on some Verizon Web sites, services, or devices.

Third-party advertisements are chosen by ad servers or ad networks that may place or access cookies on your computer hard drive and may collect anonymous information about your visit on our Web sites. The third-party advertisers who provide these ads may use this information to provide you with advertising on our Web sites, on other Web sites, or on other Verizon services or devices. This advertising could be tailored to the interests the advertisers have inferred from your browsing of our sites and/or your interaction with other Web sites where these ad servers or networks also are present. Information that identifies you personally is not collected unless you provide it directly to the advertiser.

We also may give third-party advertisers the ability to tailor their ads on our or other Web sites or on other Verizon services or devices using demographic and interest information we provide to them in a form that does not personally identify you.

Please note that when you respond to or click on a particular advertisement, an ad server or ad network may conclude that you fit within a particular audience it is trying to reach and may later use that information to deliver a targeted ad on our Web sites or on other sites.

Third-party ad servers or ad networks operating on Verizon Web sites must participate in the opt-out process established by the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI). To learn more or to limit the automatic collection of information by these parties, you may visit the NAI advertising industry site and opt out of this collection. Please note that this opt-out is cookie-based. If you buy a new computer, change Web browsers or delete cookies, you will need to perform the opt-out task again. Please also note that the NAI opt-out does not work on many wireless devices, wireless portals, or wireless Web sites today. If you do not want information collected to be used to deliver more relevant ads on services such as the Verizon Wireless Mobile Web, you should not use those particular services. Verizon does not have control over or access to any information contained in the cookies that are set on your computer by ad servers, ad networks or third-party advertisers.

Verizon does not gather information from your use of our broadband access services to determine your Web surfing activities across non-Verizon sites for the purpose of providing you with interest-based advertisements. If Verizon engages in this type of online behavioral advertising, we will provide you with clear and meaningful notice of our practice and obtain your affirmative consent.

Other Information:
We collect additional information from you when you send us an email or otherwise request information from us, when you agree to participate in surveys or provide other feedback to us regarding our products or services, when you register to receive news or public policy updates, or when you apply for a job with or a grant from Verizon. We use this information only for the purpose for which you provide it.

When you contact us seeking information about products and services or when you enter a Verizon-sponsored or affiliated contest, we will respond to your request and may use the information you supply us to provide you with additional information about service offerings either at that time or in the future.

When you establish an online account with us, we maintain information about your user identification and password, as well as answers to secret questions you choose for your use in case of a lost password. This information is used to authenticate you when you sign in to your account.

If you provide information to us in the context of an event that Verizon sponsors with another organization, such as a contest or sweepstakes, or if you register on a co-sponsored site, you also may be providing information to the co-sponsor. You should refer to that co-sponsor's privacy policy for information about its practices.

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Information Shared Within the Verizon Family of Companies:
Verizon shares customer information within our family of companies for marketing purposes unless you advise us not to. Sharing this information allows us to provide you with the latest information about our products and services and to offer you our latest promotions. Special provisions apply with respect to sharing of FiOS TV customer information among affiliates.

There are additional important protections that apply with regard to certain information we collect and maintain about the telecommunications and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services you buy from us and how you use them. This information is categorized by the federal government as Customer Proprietary Network Information or CPNI. Specific laws govern our sharing and use of this type of information.

Verizon Wireless residential customers and Verizon Telecom residential and small business customers receive a privacy notice regarding CPNI when they first order service and every two years thereafter. For more information, please read the Verizon Telecom and Verizon Wireless CPNI notices. As described in more detail in the notices, you may choose to opt out of the sharing of your CPNI within the Verizon family of companies for certain marketing purposes.

National, major and government account customers of Verizon Wireless and corporate and government customers of Verizon Business in the United States receive a CPNI consent form or service agreement requesting affirmative approval to share CPNI information. As described in the request, you may decline or withdraw CPNI consent by not signing the consent form or by following instructions in the consent form or service agreement. Your choice on CPNI consent will remain in effect unless you change it.

In Arizona, as required by state law, Verizon Wireless does not share your CPNI within the Verizon family of companies unless you provide consent using a form. Customers who provide such consent are reminded annually of their current CPNI choices.

Please note that if you remain a retail customer of MCI, your CPNI will not be shared within the Verizon family of companies for marketing purposes except to provide you with information about other services of the type you currently buy from us. In addition, when you are speaking with a customer service representative, we may ask your permission to review your records, including your CPNI, to provide you with information about the full array of services provided by the Verizon family of companies.

Information Shared Outside the Verizon Family of Companies:
Verizon uses vendors and partners to help us offer, provide, repair and bill for services we deliver to you. We share information with those vendors and partners to the extent necessary for them to perform work on our behalf or to participate in joint marketing offers with Verizon. For example, we may provide your credit card information and billing address to our credit card processing company solely for the purpose of processing payment for a transaction you have requested. In our contracts with vendors and partners, we require them to protect the privacy and security of Verizon customer information we may provide to them and to limit their use of this Verizon customer data to the purposes for which it was provided. They may not use this information for their own marketing purposes.

Verizon provides the names, addresses and telephone numbers of landline telephone subscribers to directory publishers and directory assistance services unless a non-published or non-listed phone number has been requested.

We may disclose information that individually identifies our customers in certain circumstances, such as:

• to comply with valid legal process including subpoenas, court orders or search warrants, and as otherwise authorized by law;
• in cases involving danger of death or serious physical injury to any person or other emergencies;
• to protect our rights or property, or the safety of our customers or employees;
• to protect against fraudulent, abusive, unauthorized or unlawful use of or subscription to our products and services and protect our network, services and users from such use;
• to advance or defend against legal claims, in court and elsewhere;
• to credit bureaus or collection agencies in order to obtain payment for Verizon billed products and services;
• to a third-party that you have authorized to verify your account information;
• to outside auditors and regulators; or
• with your consent.

Except as explained in this privacy policy or in agreements with our customers, Verizon does not sell, license or share information that individually identifies our customers, people using our networks, or Web site visitors with others outside the Verizon family of companies for non-Verizon purposes without your consent.

If you purchase services offered jointly by Verizon and one of our partners, customer information may be received by both Verizon and our partner that is providing your service. Each company's privacy policy may apply.

If Verizon enters into a merger, acquisition or sale of all or a portion of its assets or business, customer information will also be transferred as part of or in connection with the transaction.

Back to Summary

You have choices about how Verizon shares and uses information.

Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI):

You may choose whether to allow Verizon to share your CPNI within the Verizon family of companies for marketing categories of services other than those you currently have. This choice will remain in effect unless you change it. Verizon customers who do not want their landline CPNI data shared with affiliated companies may call us at the state-specific toll-free telephone number we provide. Verizon Wireless mass-market customers who do not want their wireless CPNI data shared with affiliated companies may call 1-800-333-9956 and follow the voice prompts. National and major account customers of Verizon Wireless and corporate and government customers of Verizon Business in the United States may decline or withdraw CPNI consent by following the instructions in their service agreements or CPNI consent forms with Verizon Wireless or Verizon Business.

Telemarketing:
Federal "Do Not Call" laws allow you to place residential landline and wireless phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry to prevent telemarketing calls to those numbers. If you would like to add your numbers to this list, you may do so by calling 1-888-382-1222, or by visiting www.donotcall.gov.

You should be aware that even if you add your number(s) to the federal or a state Do Not Call list, most telemarketing laws allow companies to contact their own customers. If at any time you would like to be removed from Verizon's residential telemarketing list, please let us know by contacting a Verizon customer service representative at 1-800-VERIZON. Verizon Wireless maintains its own separate Do Not Call list. If you would like to be removed from the Verizon Wireless telemarketing list, please let us know by contacting a Verizon Wireless customer service representative at 1-800-922-0204. Please allow 30 days for your telephone number to be removed from any sales programs that are currently underway.

Marketing Email, Postal Mail and Door-to-Door Calls:
You may opt out of receiving marketing-related emails from Verizon by visiting our "Unsubscribe" site and providing the requested information. You may opt out of receiving marketing-related emails from Verizon Wireless by contacting a Verizon Wireless customer service representative at 1-800-922-0204. You may also opt out of receiving marketing-related emails by following the unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of any marketing email you receive from Verizon or Verizon Wireless.

You may opt out of receiving marketing-related postal mailings or prevent door-to-door marketing solicitations from Verizon by calling a customer service representative at 1-800-VERIZON. You may opt out of receiving marketing-related postal mailing or prevent text message marketing by Verizon Wireless by calling a Verizon Wireless customer service representative at 1-800-922-0204. Text message solicitations from Verizon Wireless also contain an "unsubscribe" feature that you can use to prevent any further text message marketing messages from us.

Web Site Cookies:
As described in more detail in the "How to Delete or Disable Cookies" section, you may opt out of the automatic collection of information by certain Web sites by deleting or disabling cookies on your computer or you may opt out of the automatic collection of information by third-party advertisers by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out site.

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Verizon Wireless understands that advances in wireless technology, especially the growing availability of location-based services, bring new concerns about how customer information is used and shared. We provide our wireless customers with clear notice regarding how these types of services work and require that they make the choice about whether specific location-tracking features available on their phones are turned on when using their wireless phones. Customers are given the opportunity to choose where and when to turn specific location-based services on and off.

See more information about privacy features and controls available for Verizon Wireless location-based services

Verizon Wireless does not support or participate in the development of a national wireless phone number directory. We do not publish directories of our customers' wireless phone numbers, and we do not provide or make them available to third parties for listing in directories unless you request that we do so.

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Specific cable-related privacy protections apply to Verizon's collection, use and disclosure of personally identifiable information about our FiOS TV subscribers. We provide you with a FiOS TV privacy notice regarding these specific protections when you first order FiOS TV service and annually thereafter. The FiOS TV privacy notice describes, among other things, the nature of the personally identifiable information we collect, how we may use this personally identifiable information, and under what circumstances and to whom we may disclose personally identifiable information.

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Verizon recognizes that online service providers must be vigilant in protecting the safety and privacy of children online. We do not knowingly market to or solicit information from children under the age of 13.

Verizon strongly supports educating parents and young Internet users on safe viewing practices and we offer a variety of tools to help children and parents avoid encountering objectionable content or communications while using our services.

See more information about the free parental controls available for your use with Verizon Internet services, Verizon Wireless services and FiOS TV services

Regrettably, there are those who use the Internet to view, store and distribute child pornography (or who engage in other types of illegal activity involving children). Child pornography is subject to severe criminal penalties and using the Verizon network to view, store or distribute it violates our service contracts. The Verizon network may not be used by customers in any manner for the storage, transmission or dissemination of images containing child pornography and we will report any instances of such activity of which we become aware to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.

We want to help make the Internet safe for everyone. If you have a complaint about child pornography, the soliciting of children for sexual activity, or any other illegal or inappropriate activity involving children on a Verizon service, you can report it to us by sending an email to abuse@verizon.net. If you do send us a report pertaining to child pornography, please include the words "child porn" in the subject line of your email. You can also make a report directly to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children through its CyberTipline located at www.cybertipline.org.

Additional Internet safety resources and information are available at:

• http://www.netsmartz.org/
• http://www.wiredsafety.org/
• http://www.getnetwise.org/

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Verizon has technical, administrative and physical safeguards in place to help protect against unauthorized access to, use or disclosure of customer information we maintain, including Social Security Numbers. Employees are trained on the importance of protecting privacy and on the proper access to, use and disclosure of customer information. Under our security practices and policies, access to personally identifiable information is authorized only for those who have a business need for such access, and sensitive records are to be retained only as long as necessary for business or legal needs and destroyed before disposal.

Although we work hard to protect personal information that we collect and store, no program is 100 percent secure and we cannot guarantee that our safeguards will prevent every unauthorized attempt to access, use or disclose personal information. Recognizing this reality, Verizon has incident response plans in place to handle incidents involving unauthorized access to personal information.

If you become aware of a security issue, please call Verizon's Security Control Center. We will work with you to address any problems.

Verizon often publishes helpful information about a wide range of scams that you may encounter.

View current information about the latest Internet and phone scams and tips on how to protect yourself

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If you have questions, concerns or suggestions related to our Privacy Policy or our privacy practices you may contact us at:
We strive to keep our customer records as accurate as possible. Please let us know if you see any inaccuracy in your information or if your information changes. You may reach Verizon by calling a customer service representative at 1-800-VERIZON or by accessing your account online and updating your account information. You can reach Verizon Wireless by calling a customer service representative at 1-800-922-0204 or online. Verizon Business customers may update their information by contacting their account manager.

Verizon Web sites contain links to other sites. We are not responsible for the content on these sites or the privacy policies and practices employed by these sites.

Some Verizon Web sites allow you to participate in Web log ("blog") discussions and other forms of social networking. Please be aware that these blogs and social networks are accessible to other users. We urge you to not submit any personally identifiable information to these sites since any information posted on a blog can be read, collected, shared, or otherwise used by anyone who accesses the site. Verizon is not responsible for the information you choose to submit in these forums.

We reserve the right to make changes to this privacy policy, so please check back periodically for changes. You will be able to see that changes have been made by checking to see if the effective date posted at the end of the policy has changed.

If Verizon elects to use or disclose information that identifies you as an individual in a manner that is materially different from that stated in our policy at the time we collected that information from you, we will give you a choice regarding such use or disclosure by appropriate means.

Updated June 2009