Verizon's offer: Let us track you, get free stuff

Verizon just announced a new program called "Smart Rewards" that offers customers credit card-style perks like discounts for shopping, travel and dining.

You accrue points through the program by doing things like signing onto the Verizon website, paying your bill online and participating in the company's trade-in program.

The catch? Smart Rewards participants have to sign up for Verizon Selects, a program through which Verizon collects data on your location, Web browsing and mobile app usage for marketing purposes. That data is used in Verizon's "Precision Market Insights" business, which combines information on phone activity with demographic data to generate reports for marketers.