A group of UK network operators have formally urged the UK's Competition and Markets Authority to regulate iCloud Private Relay, claiming that Apple's privacy service is anti-competitive, potentially bad for users, and a threat to national security.
Mobile UK, a trade association of British mobile network operators, including EE, Virgin Media O2, Three and Vodafone, has raised concerns about Private Relay.
Private Relay is a new service that ensures all traffic leaves the.
Mobile UK claims that Private Relay affects Apple users in many ways, beyond simply what level of privacy a user wants.
Private Relay prevents network providers from seeing network traffic. Mobile UK says that Private Relay prevents service providers from understanding demand patterns across mobile networks and that it also prevents their ability to diagnose customer issues.
Mobile UK claims that Private Relay is a threat to national security since it compromises the anti-scamming and content filters provided by network providers.
Private Relay supposedly allows Apple to leverage its considerable market power into many areas of the market and thus being able to further entrench its position.
Network providers would no longer be able to use web traffic data over Safari to develop their own digital products and services that complete directly with Apple. For example, a network provider may no longer have access to information about a user's content viewing habits to develop their own content that competes with Apple TV. Similarly, a network provider may no longer be able to share consumer insight with third parties that provide digital advertizing services in competition with Apple Search Ads...
The ability of UK internet service providers to differentiate and compete in the market on fair terms is undermined by Private Relay since Apple is effectively becoming an internet service provider.
Apple unilaterally terminates the role of the mobile and fixed connectivity provider in resolving the internet connection, with Apple itself taking over the role of the ISP. The mobile and fixed connectivity provider's role is reduced to providing conveyance from the handset/home to the Apple iCloud platform.
Mobile UK is concerned that Apple could leverage its position in the device and operating system to grow its user base.
Private Relay allows Apple to favor its own proprietary applications and service at the expense of other providers, according to the trade association.
Competition in mobile browsers is affected by Private Relay, as a result of Apple's WebKit browser engine restriction, according to Mobile UK. The organization complains that users cannot switch to an alternative browser to skirt Private Relay since they can't differentiate themselves from Apple's browser engine.
The trade association says that Private Relay needs to be regulated beyond its superficial existence as a privacy service.
Mobile UK is very concerned that consumers are not fully informed about how Private Relay works or that they understand the full implications of invoking the services...
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The impact of Private Relay is therefore multi-dimensional and cannot be assessed solely through a privacy lens.
The complaint noted that Apple could make Private Relay a default-on service if the remedy was not implemented.
Private Relay should not be presented as a set up option or installed as an on-default service. It should be made available as an app with others can compete with similar services such as VPNs. Apple should notify relevant third parties in advance of introducing Private Relay services, so that third parties can inform their customers of how their service may change were Private Relay to be used. For example, advance warning of the introduction of Private Relay would have allowed network providers to inform customers how their security solutions may change and also inform Government how it changes their investigatory powers insight from network traffic data.
In the European Union, major mobile operators sought the banning of Private Relay for violating EU laws.
Apple defended its system in a detailed response. It said that the regulators had set the benefits aside without a reasoned basis, either ignoring them entirely or dismissing them on the basis of nothing more than speculation.
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