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EU Mobile Operators Want Apple's iCloud Private Relay Service to Be Outlawed Over Concerns of 'Digital Sovereignty'
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Yes but at the moment VPNs are fairly niche - Apple putting it on all iPhones gives all their users access to better privacy etc. Apple are not forcing anyone to use it (even if they made it on by default) so suspect the reasons the networks do not like it is more for their 'commercial' interests more than for their customers privacy and choice.
It does then help when there are ISPs out there which are available & actually voice their support behind things like privacy, net neutrality, no data caps, etc.
We need that competition out there, because these companies do exist (less so in the mobile space, it seems, unfortunately). At that point, if you have an option like this in your area, really consider using them instead of their competition to help make their business more viable & show those stances are valid for other businesses & consumers notice (it's not just a matter of speed per dollar or some bundle deal they have... they have other factors going on when choosing.)
Hopefully one is lucky enough to get a responsible company that honors these things & sees the benefit in them rather than getting a constant push to keep driving for more & more money and push back at losing a minor source of income at all costs (surely tracking isn't where the majority of their income comes from, right? They're already charging for the service in the first place... this is just reducing some of their side income from syphoning data from their customers without them really knowing.)
We need that competition out there, because these companies do exist (less so in the mobile space, it seems, unfortunately). At that point, if you have an option like this in your area, really consider using them instead of their competition to help make their business more viable & show those stances are valid for other businesses & consumers notice (it's not just a matter of speed per dollar or some bundle deal they have... they have other factors going on when choosing.)
Hopefully one is lucky enough to get a responsible company that honors these things & sees the benefit in them rather than getting a constant push to keep driving for more & more money and push back at losing a minor source of income at all costs (surely tracking isn't where the majority of their income comes from, right? They're already charging for the service in the first place... this is just reducing some of their side income from syphoning data from their customers without them really knowing.)
This could well backfire as more people realise these companies don't want it enabled for *their* benefit not *ours* so more people will go to Settings > iCloud > Private Relay and turn it ON.
It ALWAYS comes down to trust. Even with blockchain and especially open source software.
Yes - but Private Relay is Safari only.
I would guess that practically all iPhone and iPad users use the apps for watching Netflix, YouTube and whatever. Many services won’t even let you watch the content on iPhone’s browser. iPad does usually work, though.
So - in reality not much changes from operators’ point of view, at least if they are worried about capacity planning and caching and whatnot.
Yes, you can use Private Relay on a Mac too and use Safari to watch YouTube. But Mac users are a drop in the ocean in the grand scheme of things.
Also, normal non-streaming web traffic from Mac/iPhone/iPad Safari is also probably insignificant because there is so much streaming going on these days.
He is right about one thing, trust. At some point, we end up trusting someone or something to keep our information private. If someone doesn’t ever have any trust that can happen, then they probably shouldn’t own any electronic device these days.
Read the post 'man'. Never said EU, as in any governing body, did anything. I said the EU succccs. And it does.
The only "digital sovereignty" truly in danger will be the user's if this gets banned. Also, if the Digital Markets Act will be used to ban this than the act is no good. Carriers are just greedy for data and are afraid that this feature will become too popular.
My iPhone came up with an ominous warning about the wifi I use not being able to use Private Relay. Just out of the blue, after enabling it quite a while ago, I got that notice. Nice...
What technology does the AP I'm connected to have to support to allow that feature to work? It's an old Airport Extreme, so it's looking like time to replace it. Not ready...
What technology does the AP I'm connected to have to support to allow that feature to work? It's an old Airport Extreme, so it's looking like time to replace it. Not ready...
No because last I checked you cannot bypass geo blocks and it doesn't work for apps, just Sarafi
They're offering non-obtrusive enhancements with their privacy. It's still better than absolutely nothing (then with some of their stuff being innovative like their email activity tracking obfuscation [making email newsletters & things not able to get your location and/or guarantee your open rates, the secure enclave that Google & Windows then implemented themselves afterwards, device/app tracking protections, etc.])
I mean, nobody says you need to use this service, but for many it's something they'll use because they don't want to get a separate provider (which then may have a separate cost for things) for something like a VPN service even before iCloud Private Relay existed, but now they might actually use somewhat of a VPN from that offering.
It's a win for many with it not affecting those that want to use something else.
Also, when it comes to audibility/trust... Apple has a whole section of their site dedicated to privacy (https://www.apple.com/privacy/) and they then legitimately have a full transparency on government requests & more at: https://www.apple.com/legal/transparency/ They're definitely one of the leading options when it comes to a company caring about privacy and providing reporting to support that (outside of having limits when it comes to their software being open source [which some of it actually is], or technical & reasonable limitations where not everything can live on a fully auditable log [like blockchain.])
What are the ways they can improve that are actually reasonable for them do to? Again, them open sourcing all of their software in its entirety isn't going to happen anytime soon (nor is it with Google, Microsoft, and many others) and simply saying use the blockchain isn't possible in many ways or is then not worth the downsides that would introduce. I mean, yeah... not overly-centralizing things is a reasonable approach for those wanting to put in that effort, but many won't to the point where they're missing out on privacy entirely & Apple just helps make it reasonable for those people.
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But it can be enabled by an end user with just a toggle. No new payments, software to install, or hoops to jump through. Just a toggle.
It's so easy to enable that even grandma can do it!
It's a lightweight VPN. It does what a VPN does, but with very little control (them assuming you just want a general location/identity obfuscation & secure network activity without sacrificing too much when it comes to speed & reliability.)
Unless you are just expressing your general opinion on the EU based on something not related to this discussion, I’d like to rephrase:EU succccs again!!
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“Telcos suck again!”
Telcos are whining, the European Commission has not done anything about it.
If the Commission bans Apple’s private relay, I’ll join your choir. Highly unlikely, though.
It currently being restricted to Safari is simply the beginning. These carriers know how these things eventually expand. But even so I wouldn't discount those who use these things in their browser exclusively.
They also want to set a precedent so they can go after similar services like CloudFlare Warp.
Not in the U.S.? ? Fruit flavored e-cig vape cartridges from Juul were banned for sale in U.S. not too long ago.
While what they claim may be true, it surely isn’t the motivation for their request of the EU regulators.
Their motivation is strictly that they can monitize what they can’t monitor and control.
I urge the EU to ignore big telecom on this, and take further actions to increase competition and performance and to reduce user expenses.
Their motivation is strictly that they can monitize what they can’t monitor and control.
I urge the EU to ignore big telecom on this, and take further actions to increase competition and performance and to reduce user expenses.
Blockchain technology is designed to block the chain of snooping by ISPs and other service providers. ?
I’m pretty sure Apple is making it available for other apps later on but it’s up to the app developer to include it or not
Thats not entirely true: If your whole home network is behind a VPN, for example, iCloud Private relay will choose an exit node whose location corresponds to that of the endpoint of the VPN.
Thus, the destination server has no way of knowing for certain whether the user is based in the region of the relay endpoint or somewhere else entirely.
They can’t even tell anymore whether the user is using a VPN or not.
Don’t get me wrong: I think thats a feature, not a bug.
I hope one day Apple takes 2 more steps:
1. Adds iCPR to apps and
2. Requires apple related apps to operate on and store their data on Apple servers.