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Is this because it prevents T-Mobile from monetizing and selling user browsing data?
by diebeforei485 5y ago
Is this because it prevents T-Mobile from monetizing and selling user browsing data?
- kylehotchkiss 5y agoOr because they can't throttle video streaming sites down and internet speed test sites up?
- jaywalk 5y agoThis is almost certainly the main driver.
- wlesieutre 5y agoPrivate Relay only touches traffic from Safari, and while people could watch Netflix in the browser instead of the Netflix app, I doubt that many do
- rolobio 5y agoI've always wondered if you could start a internet speed testing website, get in the trusted list of companies like T-Mobile. Then release a VPN on the exact same servers, forcing the companies to provide the best speed to the VPN. Only problem is that you would have to be large enough that the ISPs would care if their scores looked bad.
- jedberg 5y agoThis is basically what Netflix did. They launched fast.com, which comes off the same servers as Netflix video. The whole goal was to get people to call their ISP and complain they aren't getting the speeds they paid for and getting them to unthrottle Netflix.
- rolobio 5y agoDidn't know that! Wonderful!!
- daenney 5y agoYes.
- lkxijlewlf 5y agoNo, it is because... > The carriers wrote that the feature cuts off networks and servers from accessing “vital network data and metadata and could impact “operator’s ability to efficiently manage telecommunication networks.” But seriously, it is because it prevents T-Mobile from monetizing you and slowing you down.
- wlesieutre 5y agoiCloud Private Relay isn’t like full blown VPN that hides everything you do on the internet, only your web browsing in Safari goes through it. So their existing systems to throttle the connection of your video streaming apps will continue to work just fine. It’s completely about monetizing your browsing history.
- lathiat 5y agoI believe it also takes non-https traffic from apps but since they made https mandatory quite some time ago now I suspect that is not much. Also content loaded inside email in Mail.
- nojito 5y agoTmobile deprioritizes devices depending on high usage. Private Relay would allow individuals who are deprioritized to bring down entire cell towers.
- woodruffw 5y agoT-Mobile probably isn't extracting too much of value from HTTPS traffic. It's probably more about traffic shaping.
- kstrauser 5y agoYou can extract a whole lot of value by mapping which sites someone is visiting even if you don't know what they're doing there, and you can get that information just from IPs.
- mox1 5y agoThe hostname of most (all?) TLS connections is sent plaintext at the start of a new connection. This is called SNI (Server Name Indication). That provides some (or a lot) of value I am guessing.
- kstrauser 5y agoEven without that, it's a pretty easy traffic analysis for: - Time T0: User requests the DNS record for example.com - Time T0+10ms: DNS returns "example.com. 193 IN A 10.1.2.3" - Time T0+20ms: User opens a connection to 10.1.2.3 port 443 Chances are pretty good they're looking at example.com, even if you can't examine a single packet.
- 5y ago
- ascagnel_ 5y agoT-Mobile partners with various video providers to provide lower-bandwidth streams that don't count against bandwidth caps. Less-cynically, this may be to enforce that. I consider those agreements to be violations of Net Neutrality, since they're inherently not treating all data the same.
- cglong 5y agoI believe T-Mobile's newer plans (Magenta tiers) don't do this.
- MontyCarloHall 5y agoIt is a blatant violation of net neutrality, but somewhat paradoxically, actually benefits the consumer in my experience. Several friends of mine on T-Mobile have raved about how Netflix/Spotify/et al. don’t count towards their monthly data limit. That said, iCloud private relay only applies to Safari, so T-Mobile blocking it probably doesn’t have much to do with their variable data caps.
- rhn_mk1 5y agoIt's not paradoxical at all, net neutrality also protects from bad effects kicking in long-term. Zero-rating is effectively the same as providing dumping prices compared to the competition. It may benefit the customer now, but leads to lock-in. See Facebook's internet.org.
- aeternum 5y agoT-Mobile is pretty up-front about the various video quality options with their plans, and also has ways to temporarily boost your video quality for a few dollars. For many people, a cheaper plan with slightly lower quality video is a great tradeoff.
- acdha 5y ago> I consider those agreements to be violations of Net Neutrality, since they're inherently not treating all data the same. I would agree if they do not make that available to all services. At least at the time they did that for music there was a pretty long list of partners so I’d be most interested in knowing whether they charge money or reject applicants.
- cmelbye 5y agoOne reason could be that T-Mobile limits video streaming resolution based on the subscriber's plan. Only the most expensive plan can stream 4K video, otherwise it will "typically" be limited to 480p. https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans?lines=2 https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans?lines=2