[Chapter-delegates] Content reformatting - Standards issue - local debacle

[Alan Levin]

Hi all,

I'm writing on behalf of ISOC-ZA to obtain assistance/advice from  
other chapters as well as those involved in Internet Standards bodies  
(in this case I think both w3c and possibly IETF could be useful).

Two weeks ago South Africas' largest GSM network provider (Vodacom,  
which is somewhat owned by Vodafone) implemented a web content  
reformatting service for all their customers. They announced that the  
service would allow users with older mobile phones (WAP) to access  
websites. They did not explain that those that use GPRS/3G/HSDPA will  
now see a 'Vodafone Live' banner at the top and bottom of every web  
page (incl Google). This service also breaks some sites with logins as  
well as mobile applications such as Fring stop working.

This was all done using a proxy service (setup as default on all  
Vodacom phones), which after some experimentation our members worked  
out can be bypassed by removing it from the - somewhat obscure -  
setting on the phone. Similarly it doesn't effect laptops using the  
web service.

There is an excellent article by Luca Passani on the topic at http://wurfl.sourceforge.net/manifesto/ 
   "Rules for Responsible Reformatting: A Developer Manifesto".  
There's also the W3C Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group (whom  
Vodacom claim to participate in through Vodafone).

ISOC-ZA issued a press release on this change as we felt that it was  
irresponsible and non-compliant with the standard. There are a few  
reasons we thought both, but Vodacom seem to be convinced that their  
content reformatting service is better than it was before and very  
useful to users (as done last year in other European countries),  as  
well as standards compliant.  They have asked us to retract our  
comments.

If there are any other chapters or individuals that work on these  
types of issues and have any useful information or comments about  
this, please be in contact. We appreciate any questions, advice and  
feedback.

Sincerely,

Alan


-- 
Alan Levin
Tel: +27 21 409-7997