UK Mobile Operator O2 Leaks MMS Photos 154
Anonymous Hero writes "UK Mobile Operator O2 allows its customers to send Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) photos to email recipients by way of a web interface. The URLs published by the MMS-to-email application are not authenticated, so a simple Google search reveals hundreds, if not thousands of private photos."
Reader ttul points out similar coverage of this issue at InformationWeek.
Of course that is not all. (Score:5, Informative)
Google can dig up all kinds of wonderful information [ihackstuff.com].
Re:Tomorrow's news (Score:4, Informative)
I tried to post this on
It appears that although Contract customers on the mobile network are fully able to access email and SSH via their mobile phone, yet customers subscribed through 'Pay as you Go' (PAYG; a non-subscription service, paid up in front as credit), are only given WAP access, which only provides very basic HTTP access.
Essentially this means that anyone with a pay-in-front service agreement won't be able to access their email or use anything apart from basic HTTP, even though O2 are now selling and advertising the new Apple iPhone on PAYG and stating it will support "all the same features as contract customers".
It's been reported that on contacting O2, they state its a technical problem and one that can't be resolved, yet it's also been mentioned that their own O2 POP3 mail service does work, but access to any other service doesn't.
Are O2 right to restrict access for customers not on a fixed contract? Does your mobile phone company do the same thing? And are O2 advertising unfairly?"
More information here [xcns.co.uk].
Re:eh? (Score:5, Informative)
I posted the comment in the O2 Forums, and they not only deleted my comments, they disabled my account too! I'm glad people are finally beginning to realise this is a problem and can't just be hidden up.
For my next trick, I'd like everyone to also know that EMAIL DOES NOT WORK ON PAY AS YOU GO on O2! They've blocked port access.
Thanks!
Re:eh? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:All your creativity are belong to google.com (Score:3, Informative)
Even so, eMail doesn't work on Pay as you Go on O2. [xcns.co.uk]
So yeah, it does affect customers. Anyone who sends an MMS to a non-MMS capable phone (presumably if the phone can't do MMS, it probably can't do eMail either), the MMS is posted to O2's website, and that's where the problem starts.
Did you bother to read the article? [xcns.co.uk]
Re:eh? (Score:3, Informative)
I still get 40 results. And google isn't real time, if the pictures were taken down from the servers that wouldn't change the search results right away.
Don't think O2 is that at fault here (Score:3, Informative)
Given the small number of results here I'd say that those pages were linked from somewhere else (a forum or someones homepage maybe?) which allowed google to index them.
Google's spider isn't magic, it can only find things that are linked to from another public site (given google's don't be evil mantra I doubt they'd start indexing links from emails etc.)
Still O2 should probably add some no index tags as it does give people a way to list all O2's public mms', with probably a broader audience then whoever posted them would like
Re:Its not O2, its Google (Score:4, Informative)
No robots.txt
http://mediamessaging.o2.co.uk/robots.txt [o2.co.uk]
Nothing is telling Google (or Yahoo, or ...) not to index a page somebody linked to on some other page.
Re:All your creativity are belong to google.com (Score:3, Informative)
Even so, eMail doesn't work on Pay as you Go on O2.
Total BS. That site is making shit up to get advertising hits. It's not even believable shit this time around, as anyone with an iphone on PayG will tell you.
Re:All your creativity are belong to google.com (Score:1, Informative)
UK citizen here. My old Virgin Mobile T610 and my current T-Mobile W810 can both send MMS to an email address. O2 however, as you correctly state, disable this feature on at least some of their handsets
Re:Its not O2, its Google (Score:1, Informative)
If the article is correct then I'd be stripping off the Google toolbar as quick as I could.
Except it's not: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/toolbar-indexing-debunk-post/ [mattcutts.com]
Re:Cut to the chase.. (Score:3, Informative)
You're pretty new here, so let me give you a bit of advice: If anyone on Slashdot purports to show you pictures of naked chicks ...
Put your welding goggles on before you hit the link. And for damned sure don't do it at work.