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13 Sep 2015

"Am I Being Tracked?" Access report raises privacy concerns over cellphone tracking headers

In August 2015, Access released its report "The Rise of Mobile Tracking Headers: How Telcos Around the World Are Threatening Your Privacy".  The report investigates the global use of so-called “supercookies” or “permacookies” to track web browsing on cellphones. The results were based on almost 200,000 tests taken on Amibeingtracked.com — a site developed by Access to allow people to test their devices to see if they were being tracked.

The report stated that the following mobile carriers had been found to be using tracking headers: AT&T, Bell Canada, Bharti Airtel, Cricket (part of AT&T), Telefonica de España, Verizon, Viettel Peru S.a.c., Vodafone NL, and Vodafone Spain.

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited the companies to respond.  Responses by AT&T, Cricket (part of AT&T), Telefónica, Verizon and Vodafone (headquarters) are below.  The other companies have not yet responded to the Resource Centre's request, although some such as Bharti Airtel have provided comments to the media. 

We are continuing to follow up with Bell Canada, Bharti Airtel and Viettel and will indicate on this page whether or not they respond.

Company Responses

Vodafone View Response
Verizon View Response
Telefónica View Response

Timeline

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