T-Mobile can be a bit notorious when it comes to handling user data. Back in 2021, T-Mobile, apparently set the user privacy settings to on by default, which resulted in the unwanted sharing of user data with advertisers. Then, in 2023, 37 million T-Mobile customers" data was exposed in a security mishap. Now, T-Mobile has been spotted to have left a new profiling toggle turned on by default for automatic user data collection.
As discovered by The Mobile Report, T-Mobile silently introduced a new profiling toggle under its Privacy Center, which is automatically turned on without the user"s consent. Notably, this T-Mobile profiling toggle appears to have been spotted around a month ago by Reddit user Ok-Stranger2302.
The profiling toggle allows for "automated profiling" of user data, which is further used for analyzing and predicting user behavior, specifically when interacting with customer support. Here"s how T-Mobile describes the profiling feature in its privacy notice:
“Profiling” is a specific type of activity under certain privacy laws and generally refers to the automated processing of personal data to evaluate, analyze, or predict certain personal aspects about your performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behavior, location, or movements. You can opt out of having Profiling used for future decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you.
This is very concerning news for any user because by using the profiling toggle T-Mobile can potentially track anything, as mentioned in its updated privacy policy notice, from your location, your income level, your interests, and even your health data. What"s more concerning is the fact that T-Mobile never notified its users about this new profiling toggle addition or policy changes.
Sadly, the only way to protect your data is to turn off the profiling toggle manually. Here"s how you can do it:
- You can visit the privacy dashboard using this link or log in with your T-Mobile credentials online or in the Android or iOS app or the web.
- On desktop/web, click Edit profile settings at the top, while on the app, tap More at the bottom of the app and then choose Profile settings.
- Under Privacy and notifications, click on Privacy dashboard.
- Scroll down and locate Profiling and automated decisions. Turn the toggle off.
You must perform the above steps for each line under your account if you have multiple T-Mobile lines.