Deutsche Telekom Follows Vodafone's Lead With Transparency Report: Disclosing Surveillance Operations

from the a-trend dept

This morning we wrote about Vodafone's decision to release a much more accurate "transparency report" that actually revealed that many governments have direct access to listen in on Vodafone calls. It appears that has now inspired Deutsche Telekom to release similar reports about its surveillance help around the globe, including in the US.

A spokeswoman for Deutsche Telekom, which has 140 million customers worldwide, said: "Deutsche Telekom has initially focused on Germany when it comes to disclosure of government requests. We are currently checking if and to what extent our national companies can disclose information. We intend to publish something similar to Vodafone."

Of course, that "checking" suggests that while it may want to reveal similar to what Vodafone did, it will be limited in how much it can reveal in the US, where companies are often placed under strict (and almost certainly unconstitutional) gag orders. As the report notes, in Europe, this leaves Orange as the only one of the big three mobile operators who has not yet agreed to reveal such transparency on surveillance -- and it may put that company in a tough spot, since it apparently has "deep links" with French intelligence.

Either way, it's nice to see an outbreak in transparency when it comes to government surveillance.

Filed Under: mobile operator, privacy, surveillance, transparency report
Companies: deutsche telekom, orange, vodafone

Tracfone Tells Customer The Meaning Of Life... Is One Year

from the 'till-death-or-contractual-fun-due-us-part dept

Reader crcb alerts us to a fun discovery made by his sister, who had purchased a phone plan from Tracfone, including the companies advertised "Double Minutes for Life" deal. The idea is that if you sign up and pay for that plan, any additional minutes you buy actually give you double the stated number of minutes. Obviously, for some, that sounds like a really good deal. Except that, at least in this case, it turned out that the "for life" part actually only meant "one year." If she wanted to continue getting "Double Minutes for Life" she had to buy a new plan... which also apparently would only last a year. This seems quite reminiscent to various telcos having trouble understanding the meaning of the word "unlimited." Either way, I contacted Tracfone for comment on this on Monday of this week, using two separate email addresses provided on the company's website, clearly explaining what I was writing about... and have received absolutely no response. Perhaps all the folks there are out living it up... since apparently they believe life only lasts a single year, and they shouldn't waste a minute of it.

Filed Under: contracts, life, mobile operator
Companies: tracfone

Luxury Mobile Operator Not So Luxurious Any More

from the the-rich-and-famous-aren't-that-dumb dept

In late 2005, we were amused by the story of a Japanese company trying to launch a special mobile phone service, called Voce, for the rich and famous in the US. The selling point had little to do with a fancy phone. You would get just a common RAZR. But, for a $1500 entry fee and $500/month (!?!) you would basically get unlimited calls, get a new phone each year and get a full-time concierge service. It's not difficult to recognize why this is a terrible idea. The people who could afford this sort of thing are probably smart enough to recognize they can simply buy themselves a new phone each year and sign up for an unlimited (or close to it) service from one of the big carriers. As for the concierge service, there are plenty of those around -- with most being a lot more established and trustworthy. Soon after launch, the company discovered that no one had signed up. So it dropped prices to a $1000 entry fee and $400/month. That didn't work either. So a year later, it dropped prices again to $500 entry and $200/month. Stunningly, it turns out that the rich and famous are still smart enough to recognize that's not a very good deal either. Well, other than about 2,000 people who actually did sign up. That's really not enough customers to run a business like this, so the company has shut down completely. Amusingly, the way the COO found out the company was shutting down was that his phone stopped working. As Engadget points out, you would think that the Chief Operating Officer would know that the company's operations were being shut down. Apparently not.

Filed Under: luxury, mobile operator, mvno, rich and famous
Companies: voce