News19,135 Articles

November 28, 2008

BT could be prosecuted over secret Phorm trial

Crown Prosecution Service gathers evidence

Jeremy Kirk

The Crown Prosecution Service is collecting evidence to establish whether BT illegally tested the Phorm online advertising system without users' consent.

The inquiry focuses on Phorm's Webwise system, which monitors a person's web browsing and search terms in order to serve up related advertisements.

An internal BT document leaked in June showed BT conducted a two-week test involving 18,000 subscribers in September and October 2006 but did not inform those users.

Privacy activists have suggested the trials violated wiretapping laws and posed data security and privacy concerns. BT maintains no laws were broken.

A Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) spokesman said the agency will make a determination whether there are grounds for prosecution at a later date. A BT spokesman declined to comment on the matter.

BT launches new Phorm trial

Phorm discussion banned in BT forum

BT's secret trials could have potentially violated the Data Protection Act, which mandates that personal data can't be processed without consent. The trials could have also conflicted with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act of 2000, which makes it illegal to monitor communication between two entities without proper consent.

Digital rights activists have pushed for law enforcers to examine BT's trials. Alexander Hanff submitted extensive documentation on Webwise to the City of London police, but the agency concluded no laws were broken.

Hanff encouraged people on Thursday to write letters to CPS in support of prosecuting BT for illegal interception.

Other government agencies have also examined Webwise. In January, the Home Office declared that targeted ad systems with user consent don't violate the law. The Information Commissioner's Office, which handles data privacy regulations, had said it will continue to monitor deployments of the system.

The ruckus over privacy issues led BT to emphasise that users will be asked whether they want to participate. Webwise uses a cookie - a piece of data stored in the browser - in order to track a user's internet activity.

The cookie contains an anonymous user ID, which is then associated with certain categories, such as 'cameras' or 'computers', which then determine what ads a person may see on web pages that use Phorm to serve ads.

BT started another trial of the system in September and is attempting to get 10,000 users to enroll in it. The company plans to roll out Webwise to its entire broadband customer base, but no schedule has been set.

Two other ISPs, Virgin Media and Carphone Warehouse, are also planning to trial Webwise.

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Comments received


Steve Hankin said on Saturday, 29 November 2008

It's an absolute disgrace that this has not been before our courts yet. The very idea that a large coporation such as BT can do something which should be seen asa a break of the law (yes, criminally by interception of private comms) and get away with it is crazy. Public interest DOES require laws to be upheld. EVERYONE: Write to the CPS on this issue.

Fred said on Saturday, 29 November 2008

Here is more information on writing to the CPS and why it is essential:

https://nodpi.org/2008/11/27/letter-writing-campaign/

Kerry X said on Wednesday, 03 December 2008

I could never trust a company that employs ex-chancellor Normal Lamont as a director and, runs some of it's 'monitoring' operations from Moscow.

Ron said on Thursday, 04 December 2008

I'm all in favour of prosecuting BT over this (shame they can't be busted just for being crap), but SECRET? I don't think so. Unacceptable, definitely, illegal, probably, but not at all secret.

If there's anyone who doesn't know about the BT Phorm trial they haven't been paying attention - it's been widely discussed, even in the mainstream press, not just the IT media.

What we need is a court ruling, or legislation if the courts let us down, to prevent ANY ISP hawking its customers' private data to anybody at all, ever, without consent. Better still, just make it illegal to do it at all - period.

Pete said on Thursday, 04 December 2008

If i pay for my connection, then i want it all for myself it's my money. I don't want adverts hogging my bandwidth. I don't want to be told they only take up a small portion. It's mine i have paid for it. Leave it alone.

Allan said on Thursday, 04 December 2008

To Ron, Secret because they have *already* done it once!! This is over what they did in 2006. You are only reading about the new trial because they were busted!

redstringuitar said on Thursday, 04 December 2008

In the current climate of economic/political unrest, it is becoming increasingly apparent that large corporations operate under a thin veneer of civility and are actually run by immoral fat-cats who will stoop to any level that they can get away with in order to seperate you from your hard-earned money.
I would say that they should be ashamed off their conduct, but that would be like shouting at monkies for throwing s**t!
ISP's, phone companies, energy providers, banks and lenders have been fleecing us all for years and getting away with it by lying through their teeth!
Now we have to be vigilant, scrutinize these crooks and bring them to book whenever the figures don't add up. Something's gotta change!

Matt said on Friday, 05 December 2008

To be quite honest, there crap, there doing things illegal and they have already been caught doing this once before (2006) so WHY are they still up and runng?

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