Telecom Trends

I see that the Bell equipment will be using DPI to perform these tasks. I wonder how pleased parents would be if they realized that the rollout of 'nanny' equipment is accompanied by a continuous surveillance of their own actions, as well as those of their children.
 

Chris -

It is not clear to me that DPI is required for this function, or that Unipier's solution even performs DPI.

What is the basis for these two allegations:
1. that Bell Mobility is using DPI for this service; and,
2. That there is continuous surveillance of parents (and their children's) actions?
 

Hi Mark,

I may have spoken too quickly - it would depend on Bell integrating their current networking services for Internet services with these proposed devices. It is possible that Bell routes their mobile 'net traffic through entirely different hubs than their other networks, but I have my doubts.

The whitepaper for this piece of technology reads:

"The Intelligent Policy Manager communicates with traffic and content interception and
enforcement systems such as: IP level deep packet inspection systems, HTTP and SIP
proxies, messaging gateways and 3rd party access gateways. Using these systems to
forward events to the IPM, allows it to apply policies on these events. In addition, the
IPM integrates with various networks, BSS and content enablers in order to carry out
specific actions such as: charging, sending messages or reformatting a piece of content.
Unipier’s IPM also integrates with back-end subscriber, partner and device repositories
in order to fetch relevant context information."

Effectively, one of the device's core benefits is that it 'seamlessly' integrates with existing infrastructure, and suggests that it should integrate with Bell's existing infrastructure. I can't really see why Bell *wouldn't* integrate this new equipment with their present networking facilities - I know, from my own time in networking, that we would rather have built onto what we already had, rather than develop a unique infrastructure environment unless it was absolutely required.

It's on the basis of this, that I (too flippantly, I'll admit) noted that this technology will on its own be used to perform surveillance; rather, I suspect that the data traffic is moving through DPI-invested NOCs, and this device will simply allow another level of granular filtering. Other technologies are on the market that allow for this, and Bell just happened to pick Unipier.

Further, I'll note that the technology that Bell is investing in allows for the delivery of contextual, location-based, ads, the relevance of which would be enhanced by performing DPI-facilitated behavioral advertising. I've no idea whether that will occur, using these technologies, but barring substantial outcry of some sort, I can't see why Bell (and other Mobile operators) won't be interested in extending their present revenue streams. This, however, doesn't have a basis in 'what has happened', and is just a cynical expectation - I would be delighted to be wrong on it.