RadioShack, AT&T, And Verizon Come To Agreement Over Customer Data

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(Matthew Hunt)

When quasi-relevant electronics retailer RadioShack declared bankruptcy earlier this year, one worry for consumer advocates was that the company would sell the bushels of consumer data that it has collected on people while selling them batteries. The new owners of the RadioShack brand, General Wireless, agreed to strict terms for consumer data, which now includes segregating data from purchases of AT&T and Verizon Wireless merchandise.

It makes sense that the two largest mobile carriers don’t want General Wireless marketing to their customers: reopened RadioShack stores are a joint venture between competing mobile phone company Sprint and General Wireless, an affiliate of the Standard General hedge fund. If anyone is going to market to someone after the purchase of an AT&T or Verizon phone, it

In the final agreement, RadioShack agreed not to pass along customer phone numbers to the new owners, and which data they will hand over depends on how recently the customer did business with RadioShack. Now the two mobile companies have imposed another limit on which data can be handed over: transactions that include Verizon and AT&T’s items must also be held back from the database that Standard General receives.

CERTIFICATION OF COUNSEL REGARDING INTERIM ORDER APPROVING INTERIM STIPULATION FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF PROTOCOLS WITH VERIZON AND AT&T IN CONNECTION WITH THE TRANSFER OF CUSTOMER DATA TO GENERAL WIRELESS [U.S. Bankruptcy Court]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist