Worried about Internet security? But possibly using BT as your provider, after all British Telecom is practically an institution, one to trust right? Er...wrong, with a capital W and a big "rong" attached for good measure. The European Commission has started legal action against Britain over the online advertising technology Phorm. Phorm claims its technology is "fully compliant with UK legislation and relevant EU directives".
OK I am guessing readers are saying, all well and good Wanderjahre, but what's this got to do with me. Try this one on for size, information courtesy of those nice people at The Register. BT admitted last year it had tested Phorm's technology on its network with thousands of customers without asking for their consent or informing them of the trials. It later carried out further trials of the service, which it markets as Webwise, with the consent of users.
More than ten million customers of the UK's three largest ISPs (BT, Tiscali and Sky) will have their browsing habits sold to a very dodgy company who are rumoured to have kicked off their time on the net as spyware. BT’s servers were secretly passing data on subscribers to its "new" advertising partner as long ago as last summer. At the time, BT and its partners refused to acknowledge any relationship at the time.
The Register, usually pretty sound when it comes to matters like this have devoted a big chunk of their websites to have the issues around Phorm have developed. They claim to have the full technical info on what Phorm is up to, check out their site for more information. Anti-virus companies have said that in their opinion Phorm is Spyware pure and simple. Now some users will not be alarmed by this but if the UK's inadequate internet laws permit its existence, do you really want your browsing habits scanned to provide "targeted advertising" For myself I am quite capable of finding what I want on the net without having some company or other throw their ads at me! If I am hooked into a company's VPN what guarantees do I have that Phorm cannot be exploited to enable some unscrupulous type to check out the data I am sending and receiving. Or does anyone including the Phorm truly believe that something like this cannot be exploited by the hacker brigade.
From the legal standpoint the issue centre around whether users have given their consent to the technology A spokeswoman from the commission told BBC News that the EC wanted the UK to ensure there were procedures in place to ensure "clear consent from the user that his or her private data is being used". "Technologies like internet behavioural advertising can be useful for businesses and consumers but they must be used in a way that complies with EU rules," the EU's Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding said in a statement.
Phorm's works by "trawling" websites visited by users whose ISPs have signed up to the service and for whom the technology is switched on, and then matches keywords from the content of the page to an "anonymous" profile.
Users are then targeted with adverts that are more tailored to their interests on partner websites that have signed up to Phorm's technology. The technology differs from other behavioural advertising systems which tend to use data only from partner websites visited by users, and do not work in conjunction with internet service providers. The service has proved controversial for some campaigners who believe it breaks UK data interception laws.
Last year, Phorm received clearance from the Home Office and police closed a file on BT trials of the technology which looked into their legality.
The UK government have said thatthe technology could only be rolled out if users had given their consent and it was easy for people to opt out, although its worth bearing in mind that BT went ahead with trials without consultation. The European Union Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications requires member states to ensure the confidentiality of their communications and related traffic data. States must, it says, prohibit interception and surveillance unless the users concerned have given their consent.
Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group said: "There are big legal questions surrounding BT's use of Phorm, so we welcome the EU taking the government to task. "BT should respect everyone's privacy and drop their plans to snoop on the internet before they damage their own reputation further. Websites should protect their users and block Phorm now."
BT have declined to comment on the EC's actions.
Firfox users should check the Phorm addon here https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search?q=phorm&cat=all
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