European providers don't want Private Relay
Private Relay is one of the most important iCloud features of recent times. This will set up an encrypted VPN-like connection for your data traffic via Safari. It is in beta in iOS 15 and makes it less easy for companies to track you. However, the four largest European providers do not like this. They have made it clear in an open letter to the EU that they are opposed. Private Relay would lock out networks and servers, leaving “essential network data and metadata” are no longer available. It would also have “major consequences and undermine Europe's digital sovereignty”. It would undermine the “ability to manage telecommunications networks efficiently”.
Apple's Private Relay is designed to better protect your privacy. The data you send via Safari is encrypted, so that Apple itself and third parties cannot see which pages you have visited. This is fine for Apple, because the company does not build profiles of users and does not sell data to external partners. But for the providers it is a stumbling block. They fear that Private Relay will make it more difficult to innovate, now that they are no longer in control in terms of data traffic. In the United Kingdom, too, providers are skeptical: they fear that they will be less competitive if they do not have user data.
The letter was sent in August and has only now been made public. It is signed by the CEOs of the four largest European operators. According to the providers, this way Apple becomes a “digital gatekeeper” that has the ability to contract services. The providers are said to have not yet received a response from the EU, while Apple has already introduced a beta version of Private Relay. The Telegraph asked the concerned providers for clarification, but Vodafone and Orange declined to respond. T-Mobile and Telefonica did not respond and Apple also remained silent.
As a worst-case scenario, the EU could ban the use of iCloud Private Relay. In some countries, this is already enforced by government or local laws. For example, you cannot use Private Relay in China, Belarus, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkmenistan, Uganda, the Philippines, and Colombia.
In iOS 15.2, Private Relay is disabled by default, but it will be enabled once it is out of beta. While using it, you may still run into some issues: some features don't work with iCloud Private Relay enabled. The solution is to temporarily disable the feature.