Change This Ad Setting to Stop Tracking T-Mobile Data
T-Mobile is the current criminal in the world of mobile operators. Uncarrier is not ditching a new pink-tinted mobile data plan – a little more worrisome than that. At least if you care about T-Mobile’s data collection methods and who it shares that data with. (You have to take great care of this.)
As Drew Fitzgerald of The Wall Street Journal writes :
“The second-largest US operator by subscribers said in a recent privacy policy update that unless they opt out, it will provide online and mobile customer data to advertisers starting April 26. For example, the program can help advertisers identify people who at the company have stated that they like to cook or are into sports.
T-Mobile’s new policy will also apply to Sprint customers acquired through the 2020 merger. Sprint previously provided similar data only from customers who participated in its third-party advertising program. ”
While T-Mobile tries to anonymize the data it packs and transmits to advertisers by coding identifying characteristics, this does not mean that what you do and which applications you use are completely anonymous. Aaron McKee, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, cited later in Fitzgerald’s article, says that revealing a user’s identity (and phone calls) by comparing information from multiple datasets is a “trivial” issue.
Back in 2019, researchers from two European universities came to a similar conclusion. Their results, published in an article titled “Evaluating Reidentification Success in Incomplete Datasets Using Generative Models,” showed that “de-identification” or ostensibly anonymity of the dataset is not very useful when measurable Factors can distinguish people – either by themselves. or in combination with other datasets.
“Using our model, we found that 99.98% of Americans would be correctly re-identified in any dataset using 15 demographic attributes. Our results indicate that even carefully selected anonymous datasets are unlikely to meet the current standards of anonymity set out in the GDPR, and seriously challenge the technical and legal adequacy of the let-and-forget model of de-identification.
Fun times, huh? Whether you care about it or not – and I say this because I definitely know some people who just raise their hands about data privacy, assuming every service they use tracks them to some degree – I still find it important to take control of your data whenever possible. It usually only takes a few minutes for the sites and services you use. Even if it seems like a dumb idea – and will never truly free you from the clutches of ad tech – every little thing helps. Or at least it won’t hurt.
To set up ad sharing options on T-Mobile, Uncarrier offers two options :
- “You can opt out through the My T-Mobile or MyT-Mobile.com app. In the T – Mobile app, go to MORE> Ads & Analytics> Use My Data to make ads more relevant to me. Turn off the switch (gray) to stop using your data for advertising. “
- “On MyT-Mobile.com, click the My Account> Profile> Privacy & Notifications> Ads & Analytics> Use my data to make ads more relevant to me drop-down list. Turn off the switch (gray) to stop using your data for advertising. “
I don’t own T-Mobile myself, so I can’t help you other than this (or screenshots). However, I’m definitely going to check my Verizon ad settings right now because you never know. A Wall Street Journal report explains how to set them up, as well as privacy settings for all other major carriers, so now is the right time to make sure you restrict your data sharing — “anonymously” or not.