Teams with Mozilla to give subscribers access to data privacy
Deutsche Telekom has announced it has developed three user friendly features to bring data privacy closer to customers, in conjunction with Mozilla.
The mobile operator is further expanding and deepening its commitment to the Mozilla Firefox OS project with the development of Future of Mobile Privacy features to enable users to protect their own personal information themselves, clearly and easily.
Deutsche Telekom has worked in close collaboration with the Mozilla Foundation to create three data privacy features for its subscribers.
With Guest Mode, users can hide their personal data including call and internet browsing history and their address books when they are sharing their phones with other people.
Location blur allows users to decide precisely how specific apps can access their location; a weather app, for instance, does not need to know the user's exact street address, whereas a navigation app does.
The Find My Phone feature enables the user to locate and delete all the data from their smartphone if it is lost or stolen. Unlike other similar solutions, this feature does not require central registration of the device.
Deutsche Telekom stated that Mozilla's Firefox OS, as an open, customisable, low cost platform, provides a unique way to test market demand for privacy enhancements to be included in future products. This fits into the data protection principals of Deutsche Telekom of trust, transparency, responsibility and avoidance.
These and other features that are part of the Future of Mobile Privacy concept will be introduced in subsequent Firefox OS releases and versions.
Deutsche Telekom added that over the course of the year, the company will introduce smartphones with the Firefox OS to Croatia, the Czech Republic, Macedonia and Montenegro. Two new devices, the Alcatel OneTouch Fire C and the Alcatel OneTouch Fire E will also be hitting shelves by summer 2014.