Yes, you did read that right: according to some behind the scenes research, O2 is giving out your number to pretty much every mobile website you land your browser on when connected to its network. Read on for the worrying details…
[UPDATE]: O2 has issued a statement
The find was discovered by Lewis Peckover, who coded a site that showed nothing but what information was passing hands via mobile browsing. Peckover’s simple web page revealed that – among the usual stuff you expect a web page to track – the user’s mobile number was revealed.
Your number is sent over to the host site in a sub-field called ‘x-up-calling-line-id’. The other major networks don’t have this field in their code, although networks who use O2’s data, such as Tesco Mobile, do. It only appears if you’re using the network, rather than WiFi.
Apple can track your location at any moment
The funny thing is that nobody seems to know why this is happening. O2’s official line is that it’s “checking with internal teams, and will come back with more as soon as [it] can.” Analysis from elsewhere is mixed.
Some claim that the data scooping is to check for security risks -should users try to alter the websites in question. Others seem to think that O2 had no idea that this was happening, and that the handing over of such information is entirely accidental.
Either way, you can expect an official statement from the network soon. After the furore over Apple’s ability to track your location a few months ago, mobile data security is a hot topic. If O2 don’t fix the problem, their PR team is going to have a few sleepless nights.
