Low key protests but BT and Phorm are not yet in the clear
BT reiterated its intention to roll out behavioural targeting technology from Phorm at its AGM this week as protesters outside the event admitted they were disappointed with the turn out of privacy campaigners.
However, there are three developments which will mean the furore over Phorm will not go away any time soon.
Mid week, and coinciding with BT’s AGM, the European Commission wrote to the government to remind them that tracking anyone online without their permission is in violation of EU law and the Commission would file a case in the European courts if this were contravened and the UK government were not to act.
The letter is believed to be a reaction to the Commission feeling that now the Information Commissioner has stipulated Phorm, and similar technologies, can only be used on an opt-in basis, the government is unlikely to go after BT for allegedly trialling the technology in secret in the past without obtaining user permission.
These claims were backed up on the same day as the AGM when anti Phorm protesters presented the City of London police with a dossier they claimed contained evidence that secret trials without user permission had taken place. If true, this would contravene EU law, as outlined by the Commission in its recent letter.
Furthermore, at the BT AGM Baroness Miller (Liberal Democrat), who has asked questions of the government in the past about its approach to ISPs allowing third parties to track users, chatted to protesters and the next day continued the pressure on the government asking “what guidance they have issued to internet service providers on when and how they can intercept their customers’ website use; and what information they have made available to the public about the privacy issues involved”.
Clearly with the EU reminding the government that it has a duty to uphold EU law on data privacy, protesters passing on evidence to the police of alleged past indiscretions in Phorm trials and a Peer asking questions of the government means that the issue will not go away for neither BT not Phorm.
Although the system has been cleared by the Information Commissioner, so long as it is on an opt-in basis, previous trials could yet land either party in trouble with either the government or the European Commission.
However, what might startle ISPs more is research commissioned for New Media Age magazine from iCD Research which suggests that only one in five web users now trust their ISP to protect their privacy.
Also 27% said they would definitely leave an ISP if it were involved in behavioural targeting and 37% would probably change supplier. Only 6% of people would still stick with their ISP for sure, whilst 28% were unsure what their reaction would be.
Clearly, regardless of the Information Commissioner’s decision on Phorm have to be an opt-in service, there is a public distaste for the technology, regardless of the technology provider. The same iCD Resarch poll showed that only 16% of people do not object to being tracked online, whilst more than four out of every five web users do, overwhelmingly on privacy grounds.
Tags: BT Retail, European Commission, Phorm
