Open Rights Group

[Beenherebefore]

I get regular emails from this group, today's concerns mobile phone contracts >>>>

"What are you agreeing to when you sign a mobile phone contract

Some of the UK's biggest mobile companies including O2 and EE are analysing our location, web and app use, and demographic data like our gender, age, address and employment status. They are creating profiles about our lives: how and where we spend our time, who we are, what we like and don't like. Then they sell these insights about their customers to marketing companies.

But we aren't told up front what data is being collected about us and what it's being used for. What information there is is buried deep inside contracts. It is almost like we're asked whether we want to A) have a phone, engage in modern life and have our data analysed, or B) not have a phone, disengage from modern life and retain our privacy.

This isn't a fair choice.

We have dug up the best information available about how to opt out from your mobile provider tracking you for commercial purposes.

Learn how to opt out with your mobile provider:
https://optmeoutoflocation.com

Remember to ask to be opted out of location tracking, any web browsing or app logging, and marketing services.

ORG believes that people have the right to control how their data is used. We think mobile companies should ask for our permission before they retain and use our Internet and location data for analytics. This should be on an opt-in basis at the point of sale.

We're calling for changes in the law and in mobile provider's practices. We will be raising this issue with the Information Commissioner's Office - the UK's independent regulator on data protection issues.

For now, you can find out how to opt out with your mobile provider here:
https://optmeoutoflocation.com

You can read our in-depth report on this issue in PDF and ebook here:
​https://www.openrightsgroup.org/ourwork/reports/mobile-data ''

Comments ?

[anticpated]

The DPA may as well be for companies only, as there are too many loopholes in there which means data collected can be used as people see fit. Like I got a Conservative election leaflet, no way would I vote for them and how did they get my name. I never gave them it.

[Bambino]

I think that everything that is said about mobile phone networks can probably be applied to ISP's as well. The days of personal privacy are over if you want to live in a connected world. There's no way of knowing who has access to our personal information, and there's probably very little we can do to prevent it.

[MI5]

There is a huge difference between "personal" and "personally identifiable" information.

[jonsie]

Every aspect of your life, your personal data, identifiable data is stored online somewhere. that includes your medical history, your bank details, criminal record (if any), in all a complete dossier to clone your existence. It's what happens to all these details that are the concern and what happens should someone put all these details together in a single file.

Let's be honest though, we carry on through our every day lives without worry because 99% of us will never have a problem unless we are trying to hide something. These days CCTV cameras follow us practically everywhere, driving, walking, on a bus or train and in virtually every store we shop in, every bar we drink in. Most drivers now use dashboard cams, instant photos of you dropping a piece of paper. Someone is sure to whip out a mobile phone and take a video or photo when you fall or trip and you become an overnight sensation on youtube or facebook!

Paranoia can kill you... if you let it....:smileytongue:

[Beenherebefore]

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@MI5 wrote:
There is a huge difference between "personal" and "personally identifiable" information.

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As Golden Eye International are discovering after sending out copyright/trolling/speculative claim letters/invoices to Sky broadband customers.

[adamtemp64]

This is the full o2 info on this http://www.o2.co.uk/help/safety-and-security/mobile-location-information

and http://www.o2.co.uk/termsandconditions/privacy-policy

[Cleoriff]

I think all this is a way of life nowadays. I won't be the first to say worrying about it all would stress us out far too much. Coversely, I have been in situations in the past where I wished we had as much information about patients and clients then, as there is readily available now...