I’ve been a pretty loyal Verizon Wireless customer for quite some time now, almost a decade I believe, when I called in to ask why they couldn’t compete with T-Mobile’s unlimited data pricing, they offered me an offer to stay on my contract: “a gigabyte free on my plan and Verizon loyalty pricing.”

The deal they offered wasn’t anywhere what I wanted, but at least they offered something and thus kept me for another year. When I noticed the free gigabyte wasn’t being applied to my plan, I called in and went in to check on my plan.

They fixed the problem after an hour on the phone, while online however, they invited into a program called Verizon Smart Rewards I thought to myself “This is excellent at least now I can get a Chinese finger torture toy or a bouncy ball for overpaying” I quickly clicked to sign in.

The part where you agree to sell your cell phone activity:

I’ve had my butt kicked by contracts before, being a young hopeful entrepreneur, I decided to read before I became the human centipede. I gave a quick glance of the new terms and conditions I noticed something interesting:

“the Program is managed by Destination Rewards, Inc. (“Program Manager”). Destination Rewards, Inc. is not an affiliate of Verizon Wireless.”

And it continues on…

“Certain Eligible Participants may also be required to enroll in Verizon Selects in order to participate in the Program. Verizon Selects uses information about customer use of Verizon products and services, interests and demographics to help advertisers deliver more relevant advertising to customers on their mobile devices.”

and furthermore, this contract can be changed anytime…

“These Terms and Conditions, as updated from time to time, are accessible on the Program website. “

It seem’s to me like Verizon Smart Rewards works like this:

1. You give them permission to sell how you use your cell phone to advertisers…

2. …and they enroll you in their rewards program.