Bango Privacy violation!

[Anonymous]

Hi.
Ive been using my new HTC Desire for internet use and I've had persistent HTTP error messages. Also, on age restricted content I'm hit with an o2 page with the address "bango.net".
I've done a little research into Bango and it turns out that all o2 internet traffic is being monitored and information collected for marketing purposes. It's their servers that are ruining my browsing by secretly checking everything i do. The guise of the company is that they monitor for age restriction but you'll notice that the o2 portal has no restrictions.
This **** me off so i called o2 today. The manager wasn't aware of it but called me back within the hour to confirm it.
I had to manually request that none of my information is collected whatsoever and that I be removed from Bango servers. I've been informed that the process takes 28 days to complete.
This is just a heads up for those of you who don't want your personal info being passed for marketing... they also monitor text messages as well as internet.
Personally I'm quite disgusted. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a case for privacy law infringement here somewhere.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure you are right. I think you are confusing opting out of marketing with bango which is a billing and analytics company. (incidentally they are a big well known company, used by other companies like sky, for example).
Think of them as a sub-contractor. Like, say, Nokia-Siemens is used to run parts of the network.

[Anonymous]

It's ruining my internet experience by constantly giving interrupt requests. The company is first and foremost a marketing company. I personally don't want my internet experience ruined by every page I visit being reported back to their servers so they can Target me with advert later. It wasn't in my contract. Thanks for the reply though. Maybe I didn't explain what I meant by privacy. I didn't mean personal info but rather browsing habits and text message filters. They use this info to Target for ads

[Anonymous]

I think it's an issue with the HTC Desire browser tbh.
I have the same problems and i'm on contract with my Desire.
I put my sim into my old iPhone, and never had any problems with it timing out.
If it was the APN's or anything at O2's side it would have happened with both phones.

[Anonymous]

No - it is indeed Bango spying on your every online move and their servers are failing - preventing you from accessing sites / receiving the service you are paying for.
This is obviously a shift in provider (O2 has been using Bytemobile since around 2000).
Vodafone uses Novarra to do much the same thing, though Vodafone does do the advertising-insertion for which Phorm got such flack.
Opera Mini is doing this too, interestingly bypassing the network operators to collect its own demographic information and delivering its own targeted advertising.
This has been covered several times in The Register, but while people were up in arms about Phorm, users seem surprisingly sanguine about their mobile operators doing the same thing.
If you don't like it - shout, opt out, sue them - do something!

[Anonymous]

Nope.. Bango (http://bango.com/) are a billing and analytics company for mobile apps and products.
Analytics in this case means reporting to companies on their sales figures and customers. Absolutely nothing to do with watching your web usage with 02.
02 are using bango to take a small amount of money from your credit card to verify that you are old enough to at least own a credit card. (seems logical) Thats the extent of Bangos involvement.
02, however are watching you. They are sniffing the traffic going through their network and redirecting it for payment if they think its age restricted content. (naughty naughty)
Get on a WiFi connection with your phone.. you'll avoid the 02 network all together. otherwise complain if you will. but live with it.. All the networks sniff traffic, it helps them make common sites faster amongst other real world usages.

[Anonymous]

i basically dont care what why and where they sniff, it always was, and always will, metods only change.
what i wont tolerate is blocking acces to particular webpages, asking for my credit card details with a poor 02 logo inside asking for a #### age while trying to translate something via google.
1st its ridiculouse
2nd sounds like money dumping (more spam as well)
3rd ........
o2, beware, i think u going to loose customers. good job.
p.s. checked that from two devices, both htc, one on standart builtin opera, second on downloaded one (+custom rom). both were blocked. so, definatly not any virus. also when i tried to acces their main page finding some info - "maintenance" sic! ...

[adamtemp64 Level 66: Unequalled]

This is discussed by o2 on there blog and threads on here just call customer services and ask for the age verification to be removed job done.
Or report the translation site as being miss reported to o2 on twitter or on ther thread in the forum or on the blog page.
I suggest you read the blog in full here http://blog.o2.co.uk/home/2011/03/mobil ... wered.html

[Anonymous]

time is money my friend, o2 isnt only one. especially with their recent changes, regresing ones to be honest.
its them who basically collect many data, its on their side, that blokade, its their fault, not mine. customers whant something now, not later. call them? nah, i hate waiting on line. if this was only the case, than maybe, but its not only this.
since im here i always used o2, i trusted o2, i believed o2 is the no1 service provider.
now?
as more on topic, the site req anything, should be directly from o2 domain, like 02.co.uk/something, otherwise, as an old geek, its a treat for me, saw to many things in my life. especially that i didnt even heard a word about bango and most propably shouldnt even heard at all. putting a logo o2 in a background is a 2 min work. putting req, from a domain is the only one that can betrusted in our times (about 99,(9)% will be correct, for others u will pay by ur credit card).