Vodafone, Telefonica, T-Mobile and French operator Orange are furious with iCloud, the private network service offered by Apple, according to The Telegraph. The four European operators sent a letter to the European Commission last August, asking them to react against this technology which risks preventing them from managing their network.
The iCloud private relay, the novelty of iOS 15
During the last update of its operating system, Apple switched all paid iCloud accounts (Apple One plan) to iCloud +. This change includes several features that are in addition to those already existing in connection with storage and the cloud. One of them is the “ICloud private relay”.
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At first glance, this tool looks like a VPN, but it is not: it was designed so that no one can monitor online users, neither Apple nor your carrier. With “iCloud private relay”, browsing traffic is encrypted and sent from a relay to hide the exact location of a user, the content of his browsing traffic or even his IP. This encrypted data is sent to Apple so that the ISP cannot see any internet browsing requests. However, Apple keeps your IP address.
On the other hand, your encrypted DNS query is forwarded to a trusted partner who has the decryption key. Put simply, Apple knows your IP address, but has no idea what sites a user is visiting, and the partner knows the sites you are visiting, but not their IP address. The two pieces of information cannot be linked together and the websites visited are not aware of this information, and cannot create a profile on the activity of an Internet user passing through “iCloud private relay”.
Here is a diagram summarizing the operation of iCloud Private Relay. Screenshot: Apple.
The anger of European operators wanting to put an end to iCloud Private Relay
In the joint letter presented to the European Commission, Orange Vodafone, Telefonica and T-Mobile claim that “The establishment of the private relay will have important consequences in terms of attacking European digital sovereignty”. Moreover, they add that it would prevent “Other networks and servers to access vital data and metadata, including those of operators in charge of connectivity”.
This is why operators are calling for the removal of “iCloud private relay” and that the tool be classified as “digital gatekeeper”, that is to say a dominant player abusing its position. This request comes in a particular context. In November, thirteen European operators wanted to rebalance their relations with the web giants, in particular by ensuring that the latter can finance part of the development of the networks.
In the United States, two telecom operators did not hesitate to block Apple’s new function. Client users of these operators see a warning message appear on their iPhone, stating that the tool is not accessible.