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> Is this really about EU telcos, though? From that article: > Via The Telegraph, operators including Vodafone, Telefonica and T-Mobile signed an open letter

> Is this really about EU telcos, though? From that article: > Via The Telegraph, operators including Vodafone, Telefonica and T-Mobile signed an open letter voicing their opposition to the rollout of the feature. Those are each large telcos with operations in a multitude of countries.

jhgb 5y ago
But the operations in individual countries are legally separate companies, aren't they? Plus they still have to obey local laws in every country.
- gsich 5y ago
  You are correct.
jeroenhd 5y ago
They are, but most telcos have entirely separate businesses in each EU country, the same way T-Mobile USA has little to do with its European counterpart. The Telegraph only seems to provide any sources that are about the UK. I can't find any sources outside of the Telegraph for Telefonica, for example, mostly because Google only lists articles copy/pasting the Telegraph. Apple allows network providers to turn this feature off, but any DPI and analysis the ISPs do would be highly illegal in the EU, so I don't see the advantage that disabling private relays would get them. Honestly, Apple should provide an override for this block. It seems to be based on DNS, so a custom DNS server should be enough to bypass the block entirely it seems?
- Tijdreiziger 5y ago
  > The Telegraph only seems to provide any sources that are about the UK. I can't find any sources outside of the Telegraph for Telefonica, for example, mostly because Google only lists articles copy/pasting the Telegraph. I read it as referring to those telcos' international HQ's. The Telegraph article reports that the letter to the European Commission was signed by Vodafone, Telefónica, Orange and T-Mobile. First, Telefónica isn't active in the UK under that name, only as part of Virgin Media O2 (their joint venture with Liberty Global) [1]. T-Mobile (Deutsche Telekom) and Orange (France Télécom) haven't even been active in the UK at all since 2016 (when BT acquired their joint venture EE) [2]. Therefore, if the Telegraph were reporting on the UK only, the list of telcos that signed the letter doesn't make sense in the first place. Second, if the letter were indeed authored by UK telcos, why would they have sent it to the European Commission? That's an EU institution, and the UK isn't part of the EU anymore. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Media_O2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Media_O2 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EE_Limited https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EE_Limited

jhgb 5y ago

But the operations in individual countries are legally separate companies, aren't they? Plus they still have to obey local laws in every country.

gsich 5y ago
You are correct.

jeroenhd 5y ago

They are, but most telcos have entirely separate businesses in each EU country, the same way T-Mobile USA has little to do with its European counterpart. The Telegraph only seems to provide any sources that are about the UK. I can't find any sources outside of the Telegraph for Telefonica, for example, mostly because Google only lists articles copy/pasting the Telegraph. Apple allows network providers to turn this feature off, but any DPI and analysis the ISPs do would be highly illegal in the EU, so I don't see the advantage that disabling private relays would get them. Honestly, Apple should provide an override for this block. It seems to be based on DNS, so a custom DNS server should be enough to bypass the block entirely it seems?

Tijdreiziger 5y ago
> The Telegraph only seems to provide any sources that are about the UK. I can't find any sources outside of the Telegraph for Telefonica, for example, mostly because Google only lists articles copy/pasting the Telegraph. I read it as referring to those telcos' international HQ's. The Telegraph article reports that the letter to the European Commission was signed by Vodafone, Telefónica, Orange and T-Mobile. First, Telefónica isn't active in the UK under that name, only as part of Virgin Media O2 (their joint venture with Liberty Global) [1]. T-Mobile (Deutsche Telekom) and Orange (France Télécom) haven't even been active in the UK at all since 2016 (when BT acquired their joint venture EE) [2]. Therefore, if the Telegraph were reporting on the UK only, the list of telcos that signed the letter doesn't make sense in the first place. Second, if the letter were indeed authored by UK telcos, why would they have sent it to the European Commission? That's an EU institution, and the UK isn't part of the EU anymore. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Media_O2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Media_O2 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EE_Limited https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EE_Limited