[LINK] Telstra tracking NextG website use

[Jan Whitaker]

Telstra accused of tracking Next G internet use

<http://www.abc.net.au/am>AM
By Will Ockenden

Updated June 27, 2012 09:19:19  [can't spot the update; this is the 
same story I heard word for word on AM this morning]
<http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-27/two-women-compare-the-new-iphone4-r/4094904>Photo:<http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-27/two-women-compare-the-new-iphone4-r/4094904> 
Telstra says it is collecting information from its Next G mobile 
phone users. (Emmanuel Dunand: AFP)
<http://maps.google.com/?q=-26.000,134.500%28Australia%20%29&z=5>Map: 
<http://maps.google.com/?q=-26.000,134.500%28Australia%20%29&z=5>Australia

Telstra has been accused of tracking the internet use of its Next G 
mobile phone users and sending their internet history to a company in 
the United States.

One of the telco's customers discovered that when he visited a 
website using his Next G network in Australia, a server in the United 
States would visit the same address almost instantly.

Telstra says it is collecting the information for use in a new 
internet filter product, but internet users are outraged and are 
demanding the Australian Privacy Commissioner investigate.

The tracking was confirmed by Mark Newton, who up until late last 
year was one of the longest serving technical engineers at Australian 
internet company Internode.

When he saw rumours on a network administrator email list that 
Telstra was sending the URLs from Next G internet use to a company 
overseas, he set up a test.

"In real time, information about the URL that I was visiting was 
being sent offshore so that that offshore data centre could then make 
that second request," he said.
<http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-27/telstra-in-privacy-row-over-nextg-internet-data/4094906>Audio:<http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-27/telstra-in-privacy-row-over-nextg-internet-data/4094906> 
Telstra in NextG privacy row (AM)

"It means if you go to <http://www.abc.net.au/>abc.net.au on your 
Next G internet connection, both Telstra and the US company knows about it."

Mr Newton says he had no idea such information was going offshore.

"Australians should know when their private data is collected, what 
that data is going to be used for and who it is going to be disclosed 
to," he said.

He says he has emailed Telstra, asking why it is sending internet 
address data to a third party.

"Privacy protections in the United States are very, very minimal. 
There are almost no controls at all on what an American company can 
do with private data that's been gathered from consumers," he said.


Privacy concerns

Users on the Australian broadband forum Whirlpool also want to know 
why the information is being sent, who it is being sent to, and why 
they were not told about it.

No one at Telstra was available for an interview, but in a statement 
the company admitted it was sending data overseas.

Telstra said it was building a database for one of its new products 
which will allow parents to block their children from accessing 
certain websites.
[HOW those two things relate is a mystery to me.]

It is working with US company Netsweeper, which is building the 
database for the filter.

Telstra says the product will be "opt in", but Mr Newton says its 
current data collection strategy is not.

"It's being collected and then sent to the US company without anyone 
being told about it. And I have a problem with that. And I think 
anyone who has concerns about privacy should also," he said.

Western Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam says he has asked 
Telstra to provide more details.

"Any item that's out there on the web has to have its unique address 
or it can't be found. And I don't want to overstate or overplay this 
because at the moment it's just really quite ambiguous as to what's 
even occurring," he said.

"But, potentially, profiles can be built of people out of the places 
that they go and the things that they look at online, or the people 
that they're in contact with. These things are possible. These are 
live debates."

Topics: 
<http://www.abc.net.au/news/topic/telecommunications>telecommunications, 
<http://www.abc.net.au/news/topic/business-economics-and-finance>business-economics-and-finance, 
<http://www.abc.net.au/news/topic/regulation>regulation, 
<http://www.abc.net.au/news/topic/consumer-protection>consumer-protection, 
<http://www.abc.net.au/news/topic/australia>australia

First posted June 27, 2012 08:07:45



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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