"Free" Vodacom Internet!

Status
Not open for further replies.
Skeptik said:
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showpost.php?p=706228&postcount=469

According to Vodacom3g, certain forumites are being tracked, presumably by watching their posts. Also, their cell numbers are being collated.

This raises questions about forum privacy. This is supposed to be an anonymous forum for a start! Also, if you use a SIM card from a particular network, be it Vodacom or any other, does that give them the right to track your activities??

I'm very uncomfortable with the idea that this type of activity is taking place. I don't have anything to hide, but we need to be aware of what is going on and that it is possible. So if I say "Vodacom sucks", the Vodacom rep on MyADSL here can track my post and link it to a cell number. :eek:

Added to this, the various reps often ask for us to PM a name and cellnumber to try and help with problems. Is that list also being used for some purpose?
Click to expand...

Think you're stretching the truth a bit here to be honest. Do you have any evidence beyond the post you linked to? The only section that could possibly be relevant there is:

After his comments, we watched for him (and other abusers) in real-time and built up a nice database of cell numbers who were downloading larges amounts over the VLive apn. (We'll still decide what we'll do with these).
Click to expand...

So according to that all they did is log people who were using a loophole in the billing system. If forumites are among that it seems purely incidental. Unless you have some other evidence? If so then please share it.
 
Hey Skeptik, no offence and nothing personal.

But V3G said

After his comments, we watched for him (and other abusers) in real-time and built up a nice database of cell numbers who were downloading larges amounts over the VLive apn
Click to expand...

He said they were tracked through the Vlive apn, not on myadsl ;)
 
teraside said:
Hey Skeptik, no offence and nothing personal.

But V3G said
After his comments, we watched for him (and other abusers) in real-time and built up a nice database of cell numbers who were downloading larges amounts over the VLive apn
Click to expand...


He said they were tracked through the Vlive apn, not on myadsl ;)
Click to expand...


"After his comments, we watched him" ... <--the comments from where? So this forum is being used in an investigation??
 
Think Vodacom3g just meant in a general sense, i.e. after hearing about cases of abuse we watched out for abusers.
 
Skeptik is making a good point though, I'd love to see V3G's response? ;)
 
"we watched for him (and other abusers) in real-time"

It seems quite clear, but I'll await the explanation.
 
teraside said:
Skeptik is making a good point though, I'd love to see V3G's response? ;)
Click to expand...

I don't know, to me if you make comments in a public forum they're just that, public. If Vodacom were then to search through either the sites server logs or their subscription data to link you to those posts that would be an invasion of privacy. But if they launch a general investigation as a result of your public comments and as a result happen to "catch" you then there's nothing essentially wrong with that. I'd imagine the database Vodacom3G's drawn up simply consists of high traffic users, with no regard to whether or not they are forum members.
 
Skeptik said:
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showpost.php?p=706228&postcount=469

According to Vodacom3g, certain forumites are being tracked, presumably by watching their posts. Also, their cell numbers are being collated.

This raises questions about forum privacy. This is supposed to be an anonymous forum for a start! Also, if you use a SIM card from a particular network, be it Vodacom or any other, does that give them the right to track your activities??

I'm very uncomfortable with the idea that this type of activity is taking place. I don't have anything to hide, but we need to be aware of what is going on and that it is possible. So if I say "Vodacom sucks", the Vodacom rep on MyADSL here can track my post and link it to a cell number. :eek:

Added to this, the various reps often ask for us to PM a name and cellnumber to try and help with problems. Is that list also being used for some purpose?
Click to expand...

That's why terrorists don't use publicly accessible forums to plot their next activities.

Whatever you say on MyADSL you say with the acknowledgement that this is openly accessible forum. Your comments ARE public.

Also, there are users who choose - willingly - to give their details to companies, using MyADSL as the medium.
 
Last edited:
Debbie2 said:
That's why terrorists don't use publicly accessible forums to plot their next activities.

Whatever you say on MyADSL you say with the acknowledgement that this is openly accessible forum. Your comments ARE public.

Also, there are users who choose - willingly - to give their details to companies using MyADSL as the medium.
Click to expand...
I'm pleased to stimulate a debate about privacy, but I think my point is missed. I'd be interested to know exactly what is possible - as would others. We are all aware that this is an internet forum and anyone can read it. What we may NOT know is whether our posts can be linked directly to our cell-numbers. With linking of cell numbers to names and ID numbers about to be a reality, this would complete the chain of Myadsls posts->cellnumber->name&ID.

Therefore if one can see which actual web page is being accessed in "real time" and track that back...well you can fill in the gaps. I'm also looking forward to an explanation.


Oh, and to answer the bit about terrorists. How do you think they get caught? -- because they did something they didn't think could be tracked. Like the thing with tracking a phone call and having to be on the line for min 30 seconds ;)
 
Last edited:
Skeptik said:
"we watched for him (and other abusers) in real-time"

It seems quite clear, but I'll await the explanation.
Click to expand...

lol
IF you were Vodacom...you could have a list of cell numbers/users that were (ab)using the vlive apn right at this moment. But you are not Vodacom.

If I were to say ..."I’ve just downloaded 825TB with my 1 cell using vlive!", they could check who downloaded approximately 825TB (or who did not ;) ) on their Internal & Private cell number list thingy. So they are not breaching any privacy laws of any kind ,AFAIK.

About right?
 
ld13 said:
lol
IF you were Vodacom...you could have a list of cell numbers/users that were (ab)using the vlive apn right at this moment. But you are not Vodacom.

If I were to say ..."I’ve just downloaded 825TB with my 1 cell using vlive!", they could check who downloaded approximately 825TB (or who did not ;) ) on their Internal & Private cell number list thingy. So they are not breaching any privacy laws of any kind ,AFAIK.

About right?
Click to expand...
Almost. The whole point of data protection is not to allow companies to hold arbitrary or ad-hoc data for purposes unknown. For every data record held, a company must show a use. So for example if you get a job at the 'Yellow Bus Company' and you're going to clean buses - then there would be little obvious reason for the company to make a copy of your passport and credit card. They would be in for a rather large fine if reported.
 
The monitoring is done on the Vodacom network and have (and had) absolutely nothing to do with any forum activity.

Skeptik got carried away a bit it seems.....:rolleyes: Not even sure how he could read any forum involvement in my comments?

All we did was to log which cell-numbers suddenly started downloading large amounts of data over the VLive apn, so ld13 is quite correct in his/her comments.
 
vodacom3g said:
Skeptik got carried away a bit it seems.....:rolleyes: Not even sure how he could read any forum involvement in my comments?
Click to expand...


Your comments seemed pretty clear to me and everybody else so not sure. Maybe he's a conspiracy theorist. :D
 
This is actually quite funny.

I'd love to hear Skeptik's explanation that by merely reading his posts, I can deduce his cell number.

I know I'm good, but (damn), never realised I had supernatural abilities. :confused:

Skeptik, with all due respect, you're suffering form conspiracitis.

And you actually should apologise to RPM for suggesting that myADSL would someone provide this information, (which they don't even have!). Or did you give your mobile number as part of your forum registration?
 
vodacom3g said:
This is actually quite funny.

I'd love to hear Skeptik's explanation that by merely reading his posts, I can deduce his cell number.

I know I'm good, but (damn), never realised I had supernatural abilities. :confused:

Skeptik, with all due respect, you're suffering form conspiracitis.

And you actually should apologise to RPM for suggesting that myADSL would someone provide this information, (which they don't even have!). Or did you give your mobile number as part of your forum registration?
Click to expand...

I think he was implying that either you could get the IP from myADSL and link that to an account and hence cellphone number based on the time used etc. or that you could look for outgoing connections from the vodacom network to myADSL and then match this up with post times to track him down. Either way a bit extreme I think.
 
Skeptik said:
Almost. The whole point of data protection is not to allow companies to hold arbitrary or ad-hoc data for purposes unknown. For every data record held, a company must show a use. They would be in for a rather large fine if reported.
Click to expand...

Vodacom would have every right to log data usage…
If they needed to show a use: "We need it to bill you for it." ;)
easy
 
Syndyre said:
I think he was implying that either you could get the IP from myADSL and link that to an account and hence cellphone number based on the time used etc. or that you could look for outgoing connections from the vodacom network to myADSL and then match this up with post times to track him down. Either way a bit extreme I think.
Click to expand...
The new interception laws dictate that a network provider must be able to track a user on it's network.

But the starting point would have to be a supplied ID of some sort, in this case (as you stated above) myADSL would have to receive a court order to provide the IP of the poster at that point in time (and I'm pretty sure myADSL is not logging this info). From this the network provider can be determined and then, if it is a cell-user, we can determine the cell-number.

So, the implication is that RPM is spying on forumites. Knowing RPM and his (and this forum's) standing in the industry, I find it quite a loathsome suggestion.

Much easier to track the usage, in real-time, directly on our networks.

So as I said in the other thread on this topic, Skeptik has extended his normal dislike for Vodacom a bit to far.
 
Yeah I think we all kinda agree that this is in the far realms... V3G isn't that cool ;)

Agreed though that the implication is RPM spying... which I find distateful if that's the intention.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X