It’s absolutely crazy that the land of GDPR can legally implement a tracking mechanism this invasive. I guess this is legal because it doesn’t use cookies, and they “obtain consent”?
> The Utiq technology is linked to the internet connection. This means that anyone using the same connection will have access to the same consenthub view and will be able to manage Utiq consents given when using that connection.
For example, when you share broadband connection with others in your household or if you use tethering/hotspot.
And of course the consent management panel is behind a CAPTCHA - god forbid someone automate revoking consent! I'm guessing no CATPCHA is needed to give consent, though.
List of providers that use this, from Utiq's website:
supported mobile connections:
- UK: O2, Vodafone, VOXI
- Spain: Movistar, Orange, Jazztel, Simyo, Vodafone
- France: Orange, Bouygues Telecom, SFR, Sosh, Red by SFR
- Germany: Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, Congstar, Fraenk, O2, Blau Mobilfunk by O2, Ortel Mobile by O2, otelo, SIMon, Freenet* and Klarmobil* (*but only in the Deutsche Telekom network), WhatsAppSIM, Nettokom, Fonic, AY YILDIZ, Tchibo Mobil
- Canada: Bell, Rogers, Telus
Starting from 1st of June 2026, Bell, Rogers and Telus connections will no longer be supported.
This means that, even if you consent, the Utiq technology will not be activated. All the data related to these connections held in the Utiq Platform will also be deleted
- Italy: TIM
supported broadband connections:
- UK: Vodafone
- France: Orange, Bouygues Telecom, SFR, Sosh, Red by SFR, Free
- Spain: Movistar, Orange, Jazztel, Simyo
- Germany: Deutsche Telekom, O2, Vodafone
Clearly the law does not sufficiently disincentivize such spying. CEOs should not be thinking "how much can we get away with", they should be thinking "how do I stay out of jail", like any black-hat hacker would be. Until they're punished as severely as weev was for accessing public URLs [1], it will only get worse.
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[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 21.6 ms ] threadBut also:
> The Utiq technology is linked to the internet connection. This means that anyone using the same connection will have access to the same consenthub view and will be able to manage Utiq consents given when using that connection. For example, when you share broadband connection with others in your household or if you use tethering/hotspot.
And of course the consent management panel is behind a CAPTCHA - god forbid someone automate revoking consent! I'm guessing no CATPCHA is needed to give consent, though.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goatse_Security#AT&T/iPad_emai...