UK Allows ISPs to Pursue Customer Surfing Habits

chrisn — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:23:00 GMT

by Chris Neiger

I knew people talked a lot about our friends across the pond losing privacy rights, but now I'm starting to believe it may be true. I recently read on the BBC that the UK has just allowed a controversial form of web tracking to be conducted by a company called Phorm. The software will work with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to bring customers targeted ads based on their previous browsing habits. It may not sound too controversial, but one the UK's major ISPs, British Telecom (BT), is already being sued by some of its customers for using this type of software in trial experiments without their knowledge or consent.

Regardless of the lawsuits and the fact that BT admitted to using the tracking software without its customers knowing it, the UK government says that they have outlined a way that Phorm can use their tracking software and not violate any laws. One of the foundational parts of that outline is that the companies cannot sign their customers up automatically. They have to opt in to the system and will always have the opportunity to opt out as well. Also, the software will be set up to gather information into profiles and user IDs that can't be traced back to a living person. It will keep track of content on sites that have been visited but is said not to keep information on actual web addresses. To be a little more technical, it uses information-gathering through deep packet inspection (DPI) to keep track of the information.

In addition to BT using the software, Virgin Media, who was one of the original partners, is still considering using it but is taking a more wait-and-see approach as of late. Net neutrality followers oppose the idea that ISPs will be able to track the content they look at and don't want the companies to go through with it. And they're not alone. Creator of the Internet, Sir Timothy Berners-Lee said back in March that he'll change service providers if his current provider uses Phorm.

Tech Beat : surfing

UK Allows ISPs to Pursue Customer Surfing Habits