Verizon's Yahoo deal creates a tracking powerhouse

Verizon's planned US$4.8 billion acquisition of Yahoo is likely to create an international consumer tracking powerhouse, and that's raising serious privacy concerns.

Combined with other recent acquisitions, the Yahoo deal will allow Verizon to track consumers not only on the web, but also at their physical locations, said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a privacy advocacy group.

Verizon's acquisition of Yahoo's core digital advertising business, "when combined with the capability to gather information from its wireless devices, broadband networks, and set-top boxes, gives it control over the key screens that Americans use today," Chester said by email. 

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