O2 customers had a bit of a fright this morning when news of a little flaw in the way the carrier was allowing websites to identify you over 3G started spreading across the internet.
When you use the internet with any device, whether it is a phone, tablet, PC, Mac or even a PS3 the website can see what sort of machine you are on; what screen resolution you are using; where you are coming from and what your IP address is. This site for example will display a mobile version of the page you are viewing if it sees that you are using a smartphone or an iPad.
In the case of mobiles, one piece of information that can be offered to the site you are browsing is your mobile number. Obviously, this is something that will raise alarm bells to anyone browsing a slightly dodgy website. The last thing you want is phone calls from said dodgy site or anyone they may have sold your number to.
Carriers will provide your mobile number to websites but only to specific parter sites and apps that need them. (Myo2 for instance).
Unfortunately it was discovered that O2 customers were indeed providing their number to all and sundry when browsing on 3G. London-based Tweeter Lewis Peckover noticed the cock-up yesterday and passed his findings onto O2. In all credit to O2 they were onto it pretty quickly. They held their hands up, slapped themselves on the wrist and had the problem fixed in a couple of hours.
You can read more about it on the O2 Blog.
Still, I can’t help going over in my mind what sites I’ve viewed on my phone over the years. I’ve been with them for around 6 years now, but thankfully only two years with a phone that had a decent browser. Hopefully there weren’t too many shady areas in my browsing history!
For those of you of a slightly more paranoid persuasion, another Twitter user, Liam Gladdy has kindly created an “evilness test” for ISPs. It’ll tell you whether your mobile number is visible; whether or not you have been funnelled through a proxy and whether any unusual JavaScript or CSS shenanigans have been going on.
Sadly I don’t feel as though we’ve heard the end of this. If it turns out that this has been going on for a while, there may be some retribution sought from O2′s customers who may feel as though their privacy has been violated – which it has. It is also possible (but not confirmed) that other mobile networks around the world could be doing the same thing. Best way to check is to try out the Evilness test above.
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