
So, why does the 3GPP standard specify a snooping charter?
That would have been all wonderful if the incoming 3GPP standard for LTE which is supposed to absorb late 3G networks as a separate case did not specify the snooping capability for every bit of traffic in excruciating detail.
Every bit of data in 2G and 3G traverses a GGSN and in LTE a PDC. While the GGSN snooping capabilities are ad-hoc and not particularly stadnardised, the PDC is supposed to have full DPI functionality and full snooping functionality by spec. That was railroaded by Voda, T-Mob and a few others with the vendors clapping madly (and salivating at the cost of all of this) on the sidelines.
You reap what you saw. Nuff said. So dear MNOs, stop talking bulshit. Whitehall mandarins can also read standards. In fact they mandate it as a requirement for their job specs. You get whatever you ordered.